


More Than a Feeling

by OtterBoy_FanFics



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-10-10 11:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17425091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtterBoy_FanFics/pseuds/OtterBoy_FanFics
Summary: Set directly after the events of the Great Gum War, Princess Bubblegum throws a big party, but Marceline's acting a little weird, Simon's past comes back for some good ol' fashion haunting, and chaos ensues.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Before you start reading, I just want to make it a point that this is my first time writing a story this big, or any story at all really. This was just a little passion project of mine that I couldn’t get out of my head. I respect and adore Adventure Time so much that I wanted to make this story seem as authentic as possible, like it was an actual episode. I will never truly be able to capture the show’s essence, but I tried my darnedest. 
> 
> I was inspired to write this once I saw a comic drawn by Soupdraws [https://twitter.com/soupdraws], and I wanted to build off of it. I also have to give credit to Ango_aleman [https://twitter.com/ango_aleman] and Ragingpetsch [https://twitter.com/ragingpetsch], who inspired some scenes, and CoksTheDragon [https://twitter.com/CoksTheDragon] and OhmarceIine [https://twitter.com/ohmarceIine] for all the support and feedback. Please show them your support!   
> With all that said, enjoy!! <3

 

_680ish years ago…_

Bonnibel Bubblegum's new found "Candy Kingdom" had begun growing exponentially. The young princess had been planning for years how the layout should be, what security should be issued, and the perfect formulas for creating the perfect subjects and citizens. Now that her final drafts had been published, she was ready to gather raw materials. Before she headed out, she went below her headquarters and into her bunker to check up on her little brother, Neddy, and her Aunt Lolly, Cousin Chicle, and Uncle Gumbald.

She slowly cracked opened he bunker door.

"Hey guys," she said cautiously.

However, her efforts to be as quiet as possible proved to be in vain. As her sudden opening of the door caused Uncle Gumbald to get spooked, in turn causing Needy to awake from his root-sucking trance.

"WAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAA," cried Neddy.

Bonnibel was quick to calm him down.

"WHOA whoa whoa there big guy, it's ok it's ok," whispered the pink girl.

She began a rhythmic clicking sound with her mouth which soothed Neddy, who once again began sucking on the candy tree's roots.

"Hey there, princess. Sorry I woke your brother. You just surprised me is all, hehe," said the now punch-bowl-ified Uncle Gumbald.

"It's no problem Unc- Mr. Punch Bowl. I was in a rush was all. I wanted to inform you all that I will be heading out this evening, but only for a little while," said Bonnibel.

"Oh! When do you think you'll be back?" asked Manfried the piñata, formerly known as Lolly.

Bonnibel sighed. "I said in a little while. That means I won't know exactly when, but I won't be gone long."

"Oh...whoopsie," the piñata apologized.

"Just stay here until I get back. I'm going to lock the door so don't answer for ANYONE," explained Bonnibel.

With that, they all said their final goodbyes, Bonnibel threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and headed out. As she was walking down the hill, Mr. Creampuff peeked out of his tent and began catcalling Bonnibel.

“Lookin’ good, sugar!!!” he yelled.

Bonnibel appreciated Mr. Creampuff and his compliments, but she cringed every time he made them. Gumbald literally made him as a distraction for her, programing him to behave like the “standard boyfriend” described in those old _Crazy 4 Cuties_ magazines that she was now embarrassed she liked. She still didn’t want to hurt his feelings though.

“Oh, you,” Bonnibel replied.

 She crossed over her rather hastily built draw bridge with a toxic river flowing underneath, anxious to collect building materials and head back as soon as possible. She didn't like leaving her few and only subjects all alone behind a measly gate.

 _Maybe I should build some guards before anything else,_ she thought.

Once Bonnibel made it past the sign reading a neatly drawn, "Candy Kingdom," she knew she was halfway towards her destination.  She didn't like going there, but if one place had the best building materials for her kingdom made of sugar and sweets, it would be the rock candy mines her and her family had worked on together for years just below her old shack. After a short while of walking, she finally arrived, and sour memories came rushing back to her. Super sour, stinky mem'ries. The kind of mem'ries that should have been thrown out decades ago. But there they were rotting and festering after all this time.

Bonnibel walked up the steps and cracked open the door to peek inside. "Blegh," grimaced the princess. A part of her was disgusted with what happened in this old shack, but another part of her missed the good times, like when she and her family would have dinner and laugh about how Cousin Chicle put live gummy worms in Aunt Lolly's hair brush, or how Uncle Gumbald tripped on a hose and fell face first into some fudge mud. Then, Bonnibel realized that she may never get that sort of feeling back. Don't get her wrong, she loved her brother and family even how they were. She honestly enjoyed their innocent company and playful nature, but as they were at the moment, they weren't able to hold any sort of in-depth conversation of how they feel 'n junk. That was the whole reason she created them in the first place. Bonnibel secretly hoped she could get that feeling back one day; the feeling of understanding while being understood. Maybe, someday-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash coming from outside. She quickly rushed out and heard the sounds coming from the mines. Bonnibel busted out her zapper grappler and flashlight and proceeded towards the mines. As she entered, the crashing suddenly came to a stop and it became deathly silent. She got more and more anxious as it got darker and darker. Suddenly, she stepped on something that crunched under her feet almost like broken glass. She pointed her flashlight down and found a crystalline substance. She could have sworn it was rock candy, but the color was all gone. Bonnibel was getting curious. Grod knows what was down here in HER mines making a mess and drinking the rock candies dry.

Bonnibel continued in the direction of the sound until she ended up in a large expanse of mine cart rails. She was about to start looking around again, but she heard a sharp pop followed by a hissing noise, one that sounded like that of spray paint. Bonnibel's curiosity and nervousness was quickly replaced with anger as she realized that it was just some stupid teenager spray painting the walls. She shone her light in the direction of the spraying noise and found the culprit, who hissed in response to the sudden light.

It was a girl, but she seemed to be floating since she was nearly 3 meters off the ground with no form of support visible. She was wearing a black leather jacket with buckles and metal buttons all over. She had on skintight blue jeans, and red and white sneakers, but all this punk getup was overshadowed by her hair. _Glob,_ was it long. Dark, shiny, and messy, but in a kind of stylistic way. Almost majestic. Admittedly, Bonnibel was caught off guard by this, but then she immediately saw that she was spray painting a bat on the wall.

"Hey you, halt!" shouted the princess.

Expecting to see a pretty face, Bonnibel was greeted with a grotesque and almost animalistic expression, complete with glowing red eyes, sharp teeth, and distorted snarl mixed with hissing. The girl quickly darted away, but Bonnibel was able to target her with her zapper grappler. Once she was locked on, she shot out a net and the girl became ensnared. She fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"OW!" the girl screamed.

Bonnibel ran up to her, flashlight shining and zapper at the ready. She saw the girl hissing and struggling to tear the net free, but she was likely not going anywhere anytime soon. The net was handwoven with super taffy, infused with microscopic nanometal that tightened the more the victim struggled, all designed by Bonnibel herself. Time to put her highness to the test of how high it could be.

"I am Princess Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom, and you are trespassing on royal grounds. State your business!!" Bonnibel protested.

The dark girl began to chuckle and sassily replied, "Oh yeah? Or else what?"

"Or else imma zap you!!" the princess retorted. "Then I'll throw you in my dungeon!!"

The girl entangled in taffy began to laugh even harder. "Oh no! I'm so scared. Please, there's no way in heck that little tree on that hill is a kingdom, and there's  _really_  no way that this dump of a cave is actually _royal_."

Bonnibel's face flushed with rage. "You listen here!! My aunt, uncle, cousin and I created these mines with our bare hands… and with highly sophisticated technology... so if you can't respect that, then just... stick it up your butt!!"

"OK, ok, I'm sorry, just stop yelling, geez," the dark girl said.

"Now, I DEMAND to know what you are doing here," said Bonnibel.

The ensnared vandal sighed, "Well, I was wandering around, bored outta my mind and hoping to find some place to recharge my creative juices. _I'm in a band btdubs_. Then, I found this cave packed with pretty boring looking walls, but I gotta say, these rocks taste  _awesome_ , almost like candy."

"They ARE candy! And you've been sucking them dry of their sugar!" exclaimed the princess.

 _"_ What? No, I just drink the shade of red," said the dark girl.

Bonnibel did a double take. "Wait, are you... a vampire?" asked Bonnibel.

"HA! More like vampire _queen_!" the girl said proudly.

"But I thought they were all wiped out," said Bonnibel.

"Yep, by me," said the queen.

"Well, if you really are a queen, why haven't I heard of your kingdom?" the pink girl asked.

"Don't have one. At least not yet anyway. I'm my own queen to my own kingdom. Don’t follow any rules, don’t make no rules to follow. Doesn't mean I don't got power. I'm crazy strong," the vampire explained.

Bonnibel was not amused. "I don't care how strong you say you are. You're still trespassing on private property, and you could have gotten seriously hurt!"

"Yeah, well I-... wait, what?" asked the vampire, who was looking slightly confused and thrown off guard by the princess's statement.

"There's a lot of hazards down here, most specifically the rock candy monsters. I've already been having some trouble controlling the growth rate of some of the sugar crystals, and now I've noticed that some have gone full-blown baneaneas and mutated into actual living creatures, which are  _not_  friendly at all _,_ " the princess explained.

"You mean like that one over there?" the vampire girl asked while pointing in the direction behind the princess.

Bonnibel turned around and shone her light on what she assumed was just a pile of rocks, but upon further examination, she saw legs, arms, and a head. It was a rock candy monster, and it was dead. Its kneecaps were blown to bits, its jaws were ripped from its skull and shoved into its forehead, and then there was a gaping hole in its chest, which looked like it was caused by a punch, a real big punch.

"You did this?" asked Bonnibel.

"Yep," responded the vampire.

"Wow... ok... you really are strong."

"Princess, you have  _no idea_ ," the vampire girl said with a smug grin.

"Still though, that doesn't mean you can just walk down here willy nilly," exclaimed Bonnibel. "What if it was something that you couldn't handle?"

"What are you talking about? There's nothing I can't handle, missy," scoffed the vampire.

"Well, hypothetically, what if there  _wasn't_?" asked the princess.

"Well, I'd-... I'd uhm... uhh..." the vampire trailed off with a lost expression.

"Hmph, yeah, I thought so," the princess said jokingly.

"HEY! I can take care of myself! You saw what I did to that thing! You saw how fast I can move!" the vampire said angrily.

"Yeah, and I caught you," Bonnibel said with a smirk and cocked eyebrow.

The vampire then went quiet, looking quite flustered and embarrassed.

"Well, why do  _you_  care? You don't even know me," the vampire said.

"Well, that's what sucks about the whole thing. I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me, and when that's a person that I didn't even know, it just bums me out even more. It would have been nice to at least get to know that person, ya know?" explained Bonnibel.

The vampire didn't really know how to feel all this. It had been a while since anyone had told her that they cared about them. The last person to tell her something like that left her centuries ago. For now, all she could do was nod her head and say was, "yeah."

Bonnibel hadn't noticed until now, but the vandal's face had gradually reverted from a demonic appearance to a more relaxed and almost alluring facial structure.

"Well then, what're ya gonna do? Lock me up in your dungeon?'" asked the vampire.

Bonnibel thought silently to herself and said, "Ya know what, I'll let this one slide, just because I think you'd make a great candidate for testing your abilities for me to record for research."

The princess took out a knife from her boot and held it as she said, "But you gotta promise not to vandalize my mines or any other part of my kingdom  _unless_  I say so, k?"

The vampire sighed, "Ok."

Bonnibel then proceeded to cut the net, freeing the vampire. The vampire floated upwards and stretched.

"Ahhhh... so what was it... Princess... Gumball...?"

"BUBBLEGUM!!!" the princess shouted angrily.

But she paused, inhaled deeply through her nose and exhaled quickly through her mouth to collect herself.

"Bonnibel Bubblegum," she said holding out her hand to be shook.

The vampire responded appropriately, shook her hand, giving a small, yet sincere smile.

"Marceline."


	2. Chapter 2

_680ish years later…_

            The sun was setting upon the land of Ooo. Marceline had just woken up without the need of any alarm, feeling delightfully well-rested. Normally, Marceline would barf at the thought of being described as “delightful,” but there really wasn’t any other word she could think of that could do her justice. Love does the weirdest things to people, so it seems.

She decided to take this extra time to do some bat-jacks and lift some weights, giving her an excuse to hop in the shower. Simon recently got back from another trip of moving his stuff out of the Ice kingdom into Marcy’s house. Since Marcy was already up, he thought he might as well warm up something for her to eat. While preparing the food, he looked up past the kitchen window at the pile of boxes that had accumulated.

“Geez laweez, I think I might be a hoarder,” he said to himself.

The timer he set soon went off, and he poured the food into two plates.

“Marceline!! The dinnefast train’s just arrived!!” Simon called from downstairs.

“Be down in a sec!!” she yelled back.

            Simon had cooked up some spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce. Nothing super special, but it was something. After a few minutes, he called for her again.

 “Marcy?! Whatcyha doin’ up there…” Simon went speechless as Marceline entered the room.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, Simon,” Marcy exclaimed exhaustedly.

Simon was in total awe. Marceline was wearing a suit: charcoal in color, along with a white dress shirt underneath with a dark, jet black tie. The pants she had on looked a bit baggy, but they looked surprisingly good on her. She was wearing black dress shoes with buckles instead of laces. She had done her hair in a way that looked like a cross between a bun and a ponytail hanging off of it. His little Marcy was all grown up…

“…Simon…?” asked Marceline. Simon had been staring at her since she came down, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Ah, geez! I’m sorry Marceline. You just look so beautiful,” he apologized while wiping his tears.

Marceline blushed and floated into the kitchen to give him a big ol’ bear hug.

“Thank you Simon!” she said giddily.

Finally letting him go, Simon had to catch his breath. “Woah! Someone’s excited. I thought something might break, heh.”

Marceline laughed embarrassingly, “My bad.”

“No, no, no, Marcy, it’s fine! It makes me so happy just to see that you’re so happy,” said Simon.

Marceline looked off to the side blushing and rubbing her neck. “Geez, maybe _your_ sappiness is rubbing off on me, ya old fart!” she laughed.

“OLD FART?! Well, look who’s talking!” Simon playfully joked.

Marceline smelled the air and took notice of the awesome looking meal the former Ice King had made.

“Holy cow, Simon! This looks incredible!” Marceline said with eager eyes.

“Oh this? This was nothing. Wouldn’t be half as good without tomato sauce,” Simon said proudly.

“Thanks for making extra sauce for me!” Marceline said as she began to sink her fangs into the steaming red.

“Oh it’s no problem at all,” replied Simon.

Marceline began to quickly suck up the red from the sauce. She usually liked to savor the flavor, but she seemed eager to finish.

“You seem pretty lively for someone who’s already dead,” commented Simon.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” said Marceline, mouth still full of sauce.

            For the past week, Simon had noticed how upbeat Marceline had been. And the PhD in his name wasn’t for show. He knew exactly what was up.

“Something’s on your mind, huh?” Simon asked with a smile.

Marceline coughed up some white sauce.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaat? Nooooo, I’m not thinking about Bonnie,” Marceline nervously said still sucking the red out of her sauce.

“I never asked you if you were thinking about Bonnie though,” Simon said smugly.

“Ha ha… ha… busted,” Marceline said with a blush while looking down at her food.

“You know you don’t have to pretend like there isn’t anything going on. I’m sure you guys are very happy that you aren’t keeping it in the dark anymore. You two seem great together,” Simon said.

Marceline finally slowed down on drinking to talk for real this time.

“Thanks. Sorry I’ve been out of it lately. It’s just… I’ve been keeping these feelings all bottled up for so long that once we put it out there for all the world to see, they all came spraying out like a soda can after really, really, _really_ long and bumpy ride. Simon, I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is love: Bubblegum flavored,” explained Marceline.

Simon chuckled. Marceline was such a poet.

“Do the symptoms include feeling like you’re walking on air? Well, figuratively speaking?” asked Simon.

Marceline sighed, “Yep.”

“Like you two are the only people in the world?” he continued.

“Yeah, pretty much,” replied Marceline.

“And like all you wanna do is snuggle up on the couch together?” Simon pushed on.

“Simon, if I could, I would spend every minute of every day with her on the couch,” Marceline responded with confidence.

“Interesting...” Simon added.

“So uh Marcy, I wanted to talk to yo-,” Simon was cut off by a loud, “CRUD!! I’m running late!!”

Marceline let time get away from her, even though it was only five minutes. She quickly slurped up the remaining red from her sauce.

“Ahhh, that hit the spot! Thanks again!” she exclaimed.

“Glad you liked it. Now as I was sayi-,” Simon was cute off again.

“Sorry, Simon. Gotta motor. I have to be at the party early for Bonnie’s speech,” said Marceline.

“Wait! Marcy!”

“Don’t worry, you can tell me whatever you need to tell me later tonight once I get back.”

“NO!! I have to tell you this NOW, MARCELINE!!” yelled Simon, who was now borderline frustrated.

Marceline stopped in her tracks, feeling a little shaken up from having heard Simon blow up like that.

Simon saw the nervousness in her face and felt terrible.

“Oh goodness, I’m so sorry, Marcy. I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” Simon reassured her.

He took her hands in his, gripping them tightly, looking off to the ground, and sounding somewhat distraught, but almost excited at the same time.

“It’s just… this is really important,” he explained.

Marceline could tell from Simon’s tone and expression that is was indeed very important.

“Ok?” she responded.

After a while, the front door opened, and Simon walked out. He waited by the front gate for Marceline.

“You got it?” Simon called out.

“Yep,” responded Marceline from inside the house before she came out the door and closed it. Her confidence and cheerfulness now replaced with a look of shock and nervousness.

“Ok, great, now get going! You’re gonna be late,” Simon said as he began heading towards the mouth of the cave.

“Simon, wait!” Marceline called out.

Simon stopped as Marceline floated quickly over to him.

“Are you sure you can’t just come with me?” pleaded Marceline.

“Oh, Marcy, I told you: once I commit to something, I see it all the way through no matter what. You’ve grown into a strong, brave, and incredible person. You can make it without me for just a little while,” Simon said softly.

Marceline began crying. “But I’m just so scared. What if it’s like last time? What if- what if you don’t-”

Simon grabbed her hands and pulled her down to the ground for a hug.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t think like that. That’s not going to happen. I can guarantee you that,” Simon said while holding Marceline.

Simon took Marceline by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

“I’ll be there. I’m not going to leave you ever again. I’ll always be there for you. I promise,” he said. “Nothing bad is going to happen, because we’re survivor buddies, you and me. We’ve always got each other’s backs,” Simon said trying to cheer her up.

“I want to be there, trust me, but I need to take care of some things first, then I’ll head straight for the party. You just have to be brave for me, ok?”

Marceline sniffled.

“Ok.”

“Alright, I’ll be back before you know it,” Simon shouted before rolling out his magic carpet and flying off towards the Ice Kingdom.

“You’d better,” Marceline said.


	3. Chapter 3

The Candy Kingdom lit up the night sky with its spotlights and fireworks. Princess Bubblegum and the other princesses really went all out the party planning. It was a celebration of humungous proportions. It was so big that it could be seen from space, which is probably why a bunch of Martians were landing in the parking lot. Literally everyone and their mama, and their mama’s mama, and their mama’s mama’s deadbeat roommate was invited to the party. The royal ballroom, usually the main dancefloor, had been expanded to accommodate everyone’s groove thang. The dancefloor stretched out towards the balconies, the roof, and even a makeshift ladder was built so party-goers could climb up the candy tree and dance atop of it. Party Pat and the party bears were mostly to thank for setting up the extended dancefloor. Thanks to the supervision of Bubblegum, the party bears were able to put together a safe, but exciting dance party that got everybody movin’ n’ groovin’.

It didn’t stop there. Several candy citizens volunteered to turn their homes into temporary concession stands. Betsy “Nurse” Pound Cake had been writing romantic novels for the past few years and didn’t know what to do with them, which gave her the idea to give them away. One of the banana guards thought it would be a neat idea to sell some of his freshly hydroponically grown crops. Mr. Cupcake was giving away his secret recipe for his super buff protein shakes. Another banana guard was giving away some of the murals that he created in his spare time. Choose Goose set up his stand to sell some exotics from across the land. These and many more citizens charged pretty much nothing, but accepted donations that would go to help rebuilding all that was destroyed during the Great Gum War and arrival of GOLB.

There was a smorgasbord of entertainment as well. Several banana guards built a stage so that they may perform for people their many talents. Initially, the performances consisted of the banana guard duet and ventriloquist, with one playing the trumpet, the other singing, and one doing a standup comedy routine, but it eventually led to a sort of mini talent show where anyone from the audience could come on stage and perform. There were conga lines marching down the streets, parades that housed floats and performers from all over Ooo, even James Baxter was there! Like, COME ON! JAMES. FLIPPING. BAXTER. This party was huge, and it technically hadn’t even started yet.

In the ballroom’s backstage, Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, BMO, Neptr, Lumpy Space Princess, Earl of Lemongrab, Lady Rainicorn, Phoebe the Flame Princess, Cinnamon Bun, Huntress Wizard, Normal Man, the Duke of Nuts, Colonel Candy Corn, Aunt Lolly, and Slime Princess were all dressed up, waiting for Princess Bubblegum to arrive.

“So, yeah, we’re like, totally, madly, for-realsies in love,” said LSP to Colonel Candy Corn.

“MMMYES, INDEED!! MY LITTLE LUMPLING DUMPLING AND I HAVE NOT BEEN APART FOR THE PAST 168.5 hours!!” shouted the Earl of Lemongrab.

“Well, that’s fantastic!!” replied the Colonel.

“You BET it’s fantastic!! It’s totally romantic and I bet you can’t even comprehend it!!” LSP retorted.

Candy Corn sighed.

“Actually, I was once in love with this beautiful girl named Lynn I met before I was drafted. I promised her I’d return, and once I got back after nearly ten years, I found that she had waited for me the entire time. We got married shortly after, and we’ve been together from that point on until she-”

“BOOOOORING!! Hey, Lemon Squeeze, let’s get some more punch. Mama’s gotta refuel the tank,” LSP interrupted.

“MMMYES, I TOO COULD GO FOR A REFRESHMENT, SUGAR LUMPS,” the earl responded as they walked to the punch bowl with their arms intertwined.

Colonel Candy Corn just grumbled, “…kids…”

            Meanwhile, Lady Rainicorn and Cinnamon Bun were catching up on, well, everything. They never actually talked. Might as well get to know each other a little more.

“Oh my goodness! You and Jake had kids, and they have kids?!” exclaimed Cinnamon Bun.

“예. 음, 아이가 모든 그들. 김 KIL Whan 팻, 아주 달콤한 곰 결혼, 그들은 Browyn라는 어린 소녀가 있었다,” Lady Rainicorn replied.

“Ahhh, I see,” said Cinnamon Bun.

Soon, BMO walked over.

“Hello, Rainbow Noodle. Hello, Bread boy,” they said.

“안녕, BMO,” replied Lady.

“Are you guys ready to party?” asked BMO

“어 그래! 나는 춤추기를 기다릴 수 없어! 모양을 유지하는 좋은 방법입니다,” said Lady.

“Wow, that’s weird… Lady, you… kinda sound exactly like BMO,” said Cinnamon Bun with a confused expression.

“뭐? Nooooo,” giggled Lady.

“Yeah, nooooo,” said BMO in the exact same tone, pitch, and speech pattern.

Cinnamon Bun just stood there with a blank expression.

Finn, Jake, and Huntress Wizard were seated in chairs close to the exit.

“UUUUGH!!” groaned Jake.

“What’s up, dude?” asked Finn

“I’m sooo hungry!! Where’s Bonnibel? I need to eat some food!! All we got back here is punch. Drinks are like food’s weaker cousins that can’t amount to anything. Just more liquid to add to your stomach acid!! I’m gonna starve!!” complained Jake.

“Jake, it’s only been sixteen minutes since we all got here,” Huntress Wizard pointed out.

“Do you know how long that is in dog years??” went Jake.

“Didn’t dad live to be like fifty-somethin’?” asked Finn.

“Now you understand my pain…” replied Jake darkly.

               Then the door leading to the ballroom opened and closed suddenly, catching everyone’s attention. Marceline dropped her invisibility, surprising Jake who fell out of his chair.

“’Sup, dudes,” she said.

“Oh, hey, Marceline! You’re a little late. I thought you would wanna get here before everyone else,” said Finn.

“Though you weren’t making us wait. That would be Bubblegum,” Huntress Wizard reassured.

Marceline nervously laughed, “Yeah, I was a little late. I was just-”

“Makin’ out with PB?” Jake asked smugly.

“DUDE!” said Finn.

“What? We were all thinkin’ it,” replied Jake.

Everyone in the room nervously shrugged and replied with a collective, “Meehhhh…”

Marceline blushed.

“Yeah, no, Jake. I, uhm, had to take care of somethings,” she said.

“Hmmm, you sure?” Jake pressed on.

“I was not with Bonnie!! I just got here!! I don’t even know where she is!!” Marceline exclaimed.

“Hey now, I’m just sayin’, it’s a bit suspicious that you _both_ happen to be running a little late,” said Jake with a smirk and his hands up in defense.

Marceline tried to explain herself, “I-”

Jake put his arm over Marceline’s shoulders and stretched up to her level, “Listen, Marcy, nobody’s gonna judge you for wantin’ to have smoochie times with your gf, but maybe wait until the party’s _started_ to get to Tier 2, and then afterwards, you could even go to Tier 3 if you two want-”

“JAKE!! Oh my Glob!! That’s so nasty!! You’re starting to sound like my dad!!” yelled Marceline. “Even _if_ we were, wouldn’t she be arriving around the same time I do?”

“Hey, guys!” said Bonnibel from across the room.

“Bonnie!” Marceline said, looking surprised.

Jake plopped back into his seat.

“I rest my case,” he said.

“Sorry for making you all wait. I was busy throwing some last minute stuff together for my speech,” said Bonnibel.

“Told ya,” Marceline whispered to Jake.

               Bonnibel used this opportunity of having everyone’s attention to greet them all with handshaking and hugs. BMO was probably treated with the most professional respect from Bonnibel, since they singlehandedly wrote the song that saved the world.

“BMO, it is an honor to be in your presence,” Bonnibel said lowering her head in reverence.

“Haha, Bubblegum, you’re silly. You shouldn’t be bowing to me. I’m not a king,” said BMO.

“YET,” Bonnibel said with a smile.

Then, she got to Finn, Jake, and Marceline.

“Good evening, Finn and Jake… hey, Marceline,” she said while giving both the brothers a hug and breaking away to greet her sweetheart.

“Helloooo, Bonnibel,” Marceline tried to say in a sexy voice but ultimately failed from it cracking.

               Bonnibel giggled. The two then hugged for a little longer than all the others Bonnibel gave. They eventually broke apart, with Bonnibel taking in her vamp’s outfit. Marceline noticed this and self-consciously stuffed one of her hands in her pockets and rubbed her neck with the other, which was a thing she did when she got embarrassed. And _Gob_ , did Bonnibel love that habit of hers.

“You look very dapper tonight. Though, what’s up with the pockets? You can fit an entire buffet in there,” she stated while pointing out the bagginess of Marceline’s pockets.

Marceline tensed up.

“Oh, erm, I dunno, hehe. Pretty stupid lookin’, right?” said Marceline.

“No! No, I like it,” replied Bonnibel.

“Thanks,” Marceline said.

               Marceline also began taking in her gumdrop’s outfit. It was pink, obviously, but like the kind of pink when she put extra strawberry syrup in her milk. It had a poofy skirt with frills of white and lighter shades of pink coming from underneath. Bonnibel’s shoulders and upper back were exposed, and her hair was long and fluffed out like frosting. She looked like a walking strawberry shortcake, and Marceline loved every bit of it.

“Well, you look literally delicious,” Marceline said trying to hold back laughter.

Bonnibel snickered.

“Why, thank you, my queen,” she replied while trying to keep a straight face.

“OH MY GROB, GET A ROOM!” shouted LSP, ruining the moment.

The two love struck immortals snapped back to reality, with big blushes on their faces.

Bonnibel cleared her throat.

“So Marcy, where’s Simon?” she asked.

Marceline looked a bit nervous again.

“He’s, um, busy doing some stuff. He said he’d make it once he was done,” she said with an uneasy look on her face.

Bonnibel frowned.

“Aw, that’s a shame. I was hoping he could make it for the ceremony. Well, at least he said he was coming. Good thing you’re here too,” Bonnibel said.

               Despite feeling tense before, Bonnibel’s presence really relaxed Marceline. There was still a hint of nervousness, but by now, she was mostly back to her jokey, laidback self.

“AHEM,” went Aunt Lolly while tapping on Bonnibel’s shoulder and pointing to her watch.

“OH! Ok, guys, you know the drill: I’m going to go out, welcome everyone, and then introduce and congratulate all of you, k?” explained Bonnibel.

“Roger that,” replied Finn.

Bonnibel quickly walked over to Aunt Lolly to whisper something in her ear. Aunt Lolly eyes widened.

“WHAT?!” she shouted.

“Shhhhh. Just follow my lead, ok?” said Bonnibel.

Bonnibel patted her aunt’s shoulder.

“Alright then, let’s rock n roll!!” said Bonnibel.

As she started her way towards the door leading to outside, Marceline grabbed her hand.

“Bonnie, could I talk to you about something real quick?” she asked.

“Sure, Marce, once I’m done with the speech, we can talk,” replied Bonnibel.

               Bonnibel leaned in for a quick peek on the vampire girl’s lips before she walked out the door. The curtains pulled open and everyone turned their attention to the stage behind Part Pat and his DJ set up. Bonnibel walked up to the podium and checked the mic with popping noises from her mouth.

“Welcome one and all to the ‘War is Over, _colon,_ Let’s Party’ party!!” exclaimed Bonnibel.

Everyone cheered and applauded.

“My fellow inhabitants of Ooo, and those from beyond the stars, we have gathered here this evening in celebration of winning the Great Gum War and the defeat of GOLB. We lost many things: homes, friends, family. In honor of their sacrifices, one of the Candy Kingdom’s brilliant sculptors has erected a statue in their names,” said Bonnibel.

               She signaled the banana guard sculptor from across the room to unveil his creation: a tall, carved statue of Fern and Betty back to back in heroic poses. The audience “oohed” and “ahhed”, applauding the sculptor and his creation. They eventually all turned their attention back to the princess.

“But we are not here to mourn their loss, but rather to rejoice in our victory from the sacrifices they made. And I’d like to take this moment to recognize those who stayed behind and continued to fight till the very end,” Bonnibel said while extending out her arm to stage left, cueing the veterans to enter.

They all marched down the stage and lined up to be met with applause and cheers.

“And…” Bonnibel continued.

The veterans all seemed confused, as this was not part of their rehearsal.

“-I would also like to publicly announce that until further notice, I will be taking a leave of absence from my royal duties.”

The crowd gasped.

The group behind her looked shocked and gob smacked, but Marceline looked the worst of them all.

“As of now, the Candy Kingdom will be under the rule of Lolly Bubblegum,” Bonnibel announced while bringing Aunt Lolly up to the podium.

Aunt Lolly looked super nervous, as she had no idea what to say and was not too good with speaking in front of crowds. She quickly began panicking.

“Umm… you’re _all in your underwear_ ,” she said.

Everyone was silent.

“WOOHOO!! ALRIGHT!!! YEAH!!!!” Jake cheered while clapping.


	4. Chapter 4

The whole room was filled with awkward coughs and nervous whispers. People from other parts of Ooo felt like they should have been somewhere else, and all the candy people were terrified. Princess Bubblegum had been a part of their lives for so long. No one could replace her in their eyes. After what happened with the King of Ooo, the last thing they wanted was their true leader stepping down. 

"Princess, we don't want you to go!!" a banana guard cried out. 

"Yeah!! We love you princess!!" another candy person shouted. 

Bonnibel hushed the crowd, "Citizens, I know you are upset, but this war has made me realize that my crass actions will only continue to endanger everyone and everything. If we had started fighting, there wouldn't have been enough of us left to stop GOLB. Disobedience and our combined harmony is what saved us by the seat of our pants. Finn and a dear, dear friend of mine warned me on several occasions that war wasn't the best idea, and I didn't listen. I thought I had learned from my mistakes, but I let my job consume me, and I put all those I had sworn to protect at risk. Besides, I only said, 'until further notice,' so it shouldn't be forever." 

"How long will it be then?" asked a banana guard. 

"A week or two, a month…?" replied Bonnibel. 

"Yep, that's what Starchy's second cousin said when he dropped out of college. That was forty years ago. Now he's working at some restaurant as a waiter for minimum wage," Starchy interjected. 

"I confess, I don't know for certain how long exactly, but I can assure you all that you will be in capable hands. My sweet Aunt Lolly has spent a fair amount of time helping lead her people during Gumbaldia's reign. I've shown her the ropes of our society and I think that she will make a great ruler," Bonnibel said, taking Aunt Lolly by the shoulder and smiling. 

"Dawww, thank you, dearie," said Aunt Lolly.  
"Ok, that is all. Enjoy the rest of the evening! Yo, Party Pat, you think you can crank this party back up?" Bonnibel called out. 

"Baby, you know it," the bear replied, putting on some lively dance music. 

As soon as Bonnibel began walking off the stage, she was immediately swarmed by her people. 

"Please, don't leave us, princess!!" a gumdrop girl cried. 

"Hey, hey, I only said I'd be reliving myself of royal duties for a while. I'll still drop by and visit every now and then to check up on all you guys," Bonnibel explained. 

This was able to calm the candy people down a little bit, but then the guests of honor came running over to her. 

Finn got to Bonnibel first and asked, "Princess, are you sure this is a good idea?" 

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? I know you've made rash decisions before, but this is just unbelievable, and at a party, of all times and places. Why didn't you talk to any of us beforehand?!" angrily asked Phoebe. 

"너 미쳤어?! 너 미쳤다고 말해줘," said Lady. 

"Yeah, why do you always gotta make it about you, girl?" asked LSP 

"I'm sorry I didn't inform any of you about this. _This_ was the last minute thing that I was talking about. I had just come to that decision moments earlier. I meant what I said. I've thought about it and I believe this is the best choice right now," said Bonnibel. 

"Ok, I know I was just on your side, you guys, but RESPECT, girl!! That's all I gotta say," spouted out LSP. 

"Ok, but where will you even live?" added Phoebe. 

"Well, I haven't actually thought about that so much, but I think I have an idea whe-," Bonnibel was suddenly hoisted up off the ground. 

"Sorry, guys, but the princess and I need to have a little chat," said Marceline. 

Marceline flew out the door with Bonnibel still in her arms. She floated up towards the balcony outside of Bonnibel's bedroom and gently lowered the princess down. 

"Hey, Marcy," said Bonnibel nervously. 

"Are you for real, Bonnibel?! This is totally bonkers!! I know I said you should focus less on work, but this is going way too far! Why would you want to leave after everything that happened with this war?!" asked Marceline. 

Bonnibel replied, "That's exactlywhy I'm leaving. _Everything_ that happened was _my_ fault. I pushed for this war to happen, and by doing so, I endangered not just my people, but all of Ooo. I'm not fit to rule." 

Marceline took Bonnibel by the arms. 

"Bonnie! That wasn't your fault. That was all GOLB, wo was summoned by cray-cray Betty." 

"I know that she was responsible, but I could have prevented it. Maybe if I hadn't put all of my eggs in one basket and looked for other options, I could have remained calm and rational enough to come up with a better strategy for taking GOLB down. Instead, we were placed smackdab in the middle of GOLB's landing site; I made us its doormat for it to wipe its feet on," said Bonnibel in a distraught tone. 

Marceline had become much calmer and felt the despair in Bonnibel's voice, so she tried to be a little more sympathetic. 

"Look, I know it was bad, but in the end, Ooo was saved," said Marceline. 

"Yeah, but at what cost? We lost Fern. We lost Betty. What if I lost you…?" Bonnibel started crying. 

"Whoa, whoa, hey, hey… ssshhh, ssshhh," Marceline said as she held Bonnibel, cradling her head and stroking her hair. 

"Listen, you stuck with your gut. You felt your peeps were threatened and you did what you had to do to protect them. You can't blame yourself for that. Even if you did call a truce, that butt of an uncle of yours wild have still gone behind your back, then you wouldn't have been able to do anything. _You_ were the one who found GOLB's weakness. Without you, Ooo wouldn't have been saved. Just please stop blaming yourself." 

Bonnibel had ceased crying into Marceline's shoulder. She looked up at Marceline, still sniffling with snot running down her nose. Marceline wiped the princess' tears and snot away. 

"Hmph. Gross. You're gross," Marceline said. 

Bonnibel started laughing and mushed Marceline's face. 

"You're gross, Marcy." 

"We're both gross, honey," replied Marceline in a soothing voice. 

The two then pulled each other in for a kiss. After what seemed like a solid thirty seconds, they broke apart. Bonnibel just stared at Marceline. Attractive was an understatement for how Marceline looked. With half of her face being silhouetted with her red eye gleaming in the darkness and the other half being lit up by the moon, she truly was a sight to behold. And up close and personal made it all the more captivating. 

Meanwhile, Marceline had also been appreciating the scenery. Bonnibel's eyes were watery from crying, and she was breathing heavily since her stuffy nose prevented her from taking in air through the kiss. Marceline stared at her with passionate eyes. Not a bad view at all. 

_Maybe Tier 3 wasn't such a bad idea- NO! Bad Marcy! Stupid Jake!_ the vampire thought to herself shaking her head. They then begun their way back down to the party. 

Marceline broke the silence and said, "I'm gonna take a guess and say that didn't change your mind, huh." 

Bonnibel shook her head, "Nope. Still gonna leave." 

"Dang! Am I gonna have to drain you of your precious skin tone to change your mind?" Marceline asked jokingly showing off her fangs. 

"Marcy, don't be gross, and I'm serious. I'm not changing my mind." 

Marceline sucked her teeth. 

"Ok, well, if that's your decision, then I support it," declared Marceline. 

"Thank you," replied Bonnibel. 

"But where will you even go?" the vampire asked. 

Bonnibel scrunched her face adorably. 

"Is that a trick question? With YOU, ya ding dong," she answered. 

Marceline was already dead, but she felt like her heart sank. 

"Wait- that'd better not be the real reason why you're quitting," said Marceline in a nervous voice. 

"Well, I mean, it's at least part of the reason," replied Bonnibel. 

Marceline put her hands on her head and made a small, involuntary sound, like when you cringe at the thought of something embarrassing or frustrating. 

"Hnnng! Dang it, Bonnibel!" 

"What?" the princess asked. 

"Don't you think that's a bit irresponsible?" asked Marceline. 

"I told you already that I'm not fit to rule right now. I can't keep doing this forever: saying I'll protect my people and then endangering their lives. Besides, Aunt Lolly has proven she is more than capable at leading the Kingdom," said Bonnibel. 

"Really? Miss Underwear/Used-to-Work-with-Gumbald?" Marceline asked sarcastically. 

"Hey! She's just not that great at public speaking. I'm positive that with just enough practice, she'll give the best speeches the kingdom has ever seen. Not to mention she saved me from being dum-dum juiced," replied Bonnibel. 

Marceline glared at Bonnibel. 

"Look, I know she may not seem that bright, but she's full of promise. She did co-manage an entire kingdom after all. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised she replaces me permanently," Bonnibel added. 

"Bonnie!! Take this seriously!!" blew up Marceline. 

Bonnibel backed up, surprised from the sudden outburst. 

"I am, what's wrong?" she asked. 

The two stopped at the last flight of stairs. 

"You're leaving your kingdom just so you can hang out with me more," said Marceline. 

"AND because it's better for the people," Bonnibel added. 

"Is it really though? You aren't even trying to go to some sort isolated place to become all wise like those old monks in the movies we watched together," Marceline complained. 

"Marcy, those were just movies. This is reality." 

"Exactly my point! Am I really worth ditching the entire kingdom and putting everything you've worked so hard to build at risk?" asked Marceline. 

Bonnibel look Marceline straight in the eyes. 

"Yes." 

Marceline was blushing up a crimson storm that was redder than Crab Princess. 

"Oh…" 

The stood silently for a moment or two, then began walking down the last of the steps. 

"Well, I'm flattered, but you kinda asked at a bad time…" 

"So you can't?" asked Bonnibel. 

"No! I can, it's just-," 

"You don't want to? But you've always talked about maybe moving in together. I thought it's what you've always wanted," said Bonnibel. 

Marceline thought quietly to herself. 

"I do want that... but, is it really what _you_ want?" 

"Why are you even asking that? Of course it's what I want. You're like my home, Marce, and there's no place like you." 

Bonnibel held Marceline's hand and rested her head against hers. Apart from her warmth and sweet smell, Marceline could also hear her breath. It sounded labored and short. Classic signs of anxiety and nervousness. Despite having made it a point that the decision was absolute, Bonnibel was noticeably nervous about the decision. The vampire empathized with the princess. Marceline could tell that Bonnibel truly did want to leave and be with her, but she also seemed scared what would happen if she did leave. Marceline felt comforted that they were both nervous about stuff like this. The two eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and were right outside the ballroom. Marceline began pushing the door open. 

"Bonnie, I-," Marceline was interrupted by a crowd of people running and screaming in terror. Among the chaos, Marceline could hear Simon's voice calling for her. At first she thought she was going nuts, but then she saw him. 

"MARCELINE!" 

"SIMON!" 

The two ran towards each other. He was out of breath, sweating like crazy, and had a sense of dread in his eyes. 

"Marceline, you need to get out of here NOW!" 


	5. Chapter 5

After saying goodbye to Marceline, Simon hopped on his magic carpet and flew off to the Ice Kingdom. Within minutes, he was already at the front door of the Ice Castle. He hopped off his carpet, rolled it up and put it in his backpack. Simon knocked on the door.  
"Gunter, could you get that? I'm kinda busy," shouted the Ice Thing from inside. 

Small footsteps could be heard getting closer to the door. The door soon opened and Simon was met with a penguin. 

" _WENK_ ," went the penguin while extending out a flipper, signaling for Simon to come in. 

"Oh, why thank you," said Simon. 

Simon walked in and the penguin shut the door behind him. 

" _WENK_ ," went the penguin, holding out its flippers. 

"Uhh… OH, my bag?" Simon asked.  
The penguin nodded. 

"Thank you very much," said Simon, handing the penguin his bag. 

The penguin took the bag and threw it at the coat hanger, missing it by several feet and landing on the floor knocking over an umbrella, followed by a slightly awkward silence. 

" _WENK_ ," the penguin said to Simon as it began walking into the living room. 

Simon followed. 

In the living room, Simon saw the Ice Thing stacking cards together, penguins surrounding him and watching in amazement. Ice Thing just about finished when one of the penguins sneezed, collapsing the entire house of cards. 

"D'OH, dang it!!" went Ice Thing. 

"Now I gotta start all ov-," Ice Thing was picking up the cards when he noticed Simon standing in the doorway. 

"Oh! Hey there, buddy!! How've ya been?" said Ice Thing coming in for a hug. 

Simon hugged him back. 

"Hey, Ice Thing. I've been alright. How about you?" asked Simon. 

"Meh, can't complain. It was awfully nice of you to let me stay here and keep some of your stuff when you had it," replied Ice Thing. 

" _Our_ stuff," Simon corrected him with a gentle pat on the back and a smile. 

"So, are ABD and Magi here?" asked Simon.  
"Yep! They're down stairs in the basement waiting on you," replied Ice Thing. 

"Great," said Simon. 

Simon began his way to the basement. After walking a nearly endless flight of stairs, he finally got to the bottom and walked into his study. In the center of the room, he saw Abracadaniel and Life Giving Magus playing a game of ping-pong. 

"Oh! Hey, Simon," went ABD. 

Magi turned around, missing the ball in the process and losing the game. 

"Oh, man!" went Magi. 

"It's your own fault for losing focus," said Little Dude, Finn's sentient hat, from across the room. 

"Hey! I was doing pretty well!" said Magi angrily. 

"Really, 6 – 3 doesn't sound well to me," said Little Dude mockingly. 

"It's not bad for my first try," added Magi. 

Simon whispered to ABD, "What's wrong with those two?" 

"I have no idea. They've been like this ever since they got here," whispered back ABD. 

"So, guys ready to 'take care of' that 'thing?'" Simon asked in air quotes. 

"You bet!" said Magi. 

"Of course, Simon," went Little Dude. 

"Alright, let's-," Simon stopped as he saw Ice Thing peeking from around the corner. 

"Oh! Uh, hi," went Ice Thing. He walked out from hiding, began twiddling his thumbs, and asked, "Say, would it be too much trouble if, I dunno, I joined you guys? I just wanna be involved," said Ice thing with puppy-dog eyes. 

Simon smiled lightly. 

"Oh, alright, but it's very _very_ important. You think you can handle it?" asked Simon. 

"Pal, there ain't nothing I can't handle!" said Ice Thing with immense confidence. 

Simon shook his head smiling. 

"Alright, guys, follow me," he said. 

Simon led the group down the hall to a room not so large as the last that was dimly lit from the lit of the moon shining through the castle walls. The room was already pretty empty, all except for one corner of it. 

"That's it, fellas," said Simon. 

They walked towards the corner of the room, which had boxes and books stacked on top of each other, and a large rectangle-shaped object covered by a dusty sheet. Simon grabbed the sheet and pulled it away, unveiling what was underneath. It was a huge chunk of ice. Inside the ice was a tall, humanoid metallic suit. It was at least three to four times as tall as an average human, had bulking chest and shoulder plates, and had massive arms and legs. On the right forearm was a long, wooden stake, about the size of a baseball bat, with a sharpened point bolted to the metal. On the left forearm was a single hole with a smaller wooden stake that could be seen inside. Off to the side of that hole was what looked like an ammo chain, but instead of bullets, there were stakes, lots and lots of stakes. The fingers on the gloves were tipped with crucifixes, whose ends were sharpened to a point. On its back were two log-sized stakes with smaller stakes shaved into the edges, giving them a sawfish-like appearance. 

However, the most disturbing part was the helmet, which looked more like a face. It bared an uncanny resemblance to the former Ice King, supporting a crown in the shape of, well, a crown, with three jewel-shaped holes, and even having a long, protruding nose. But instead of having the classic, snow white beard, there was nothing but a gaping hole stretching off to the sides of the face. The eye holes were slanted and narrow, giving it an angry look. To say that it looked unsettling was an understatement. 

"Soooooo, whatcha ya got here?" asked Magi in a conspicuous voice. 

"These are all my things that have some sort of connection to my Betty. My greatest works and my worst nightmares," said Simon gloomily. 

"And _that_?" asked ABD. 

"That… has to be my worst creations from one of my worst memory. It's a vampire slaying suit," replied Simon. 

The wizards gasped. 

"You're kidding," went Magi. 

Simon sighed, "Nope. It also has built-in demon protection." 

"What?! What could you have possibly used this thing for?!" asked Little Dude. 

Simon sat down on one of the boxes. 

"You see, a long time ago, Marceline the Vampire Queen wasn't a vampire at all, and I wasn't the Ice King yet, and we were best friends. We were all alone together. We were all we had. At a certain point, I had used the crown so much that I barely had any sanity left. I decided that I would set off on my own to find someone else to take care of her. Marceline had told me about her father, Hudson Abadeer, and how he was a soul-sucking demon that ruled the nightosphere. Marceline was too young to understand at the time that her father was a total dink who abandoned her. However, despite how I felt about him, I knew it was the best option to keep Marceline safe. I also knew it wouldn't be easy, talking to him without having my soul sucked. Not to mention, all of Ooo at the time was teeming with mutations and hazardous creatures, the dominant of which being vampires. I reached my old lab in hopes that I would find some way of summoning Marceline's father, but I couldn't find anything. I knew that I would have to search outside the safety of my lab. So, I began working something I could use to protect myself. I was able to use a fire proximity suit designed by Betty and me as the inside of the suit. I added robotics from the university's engineering department, and I added the armor plating from the small submarine we bought to search for lost artifacts. I was able to use the crown as a power source for the suit, which ultimately meant that I would become more insane the longer I had the suit on," trailed off Simon. 

"Oh, dear. Were you ever able to summon Marceline's dad?" asked ABD. 

"To be totally honest, I have no idea. Once I put the suit on, my madness only worsened. I can only remember bits and pieces. Even if I did manage to summon a demon, there was no way of me knowing that it would be Hunson. All I know is that this is an abomination of my work and Betty's, as well. It needs to be destroyed. If Marceline saw this, I don't know what she would think of me," said Simon. 

"I'm so sorry, buddy," said Ice Thing. 

"Wait, what about the rest of your things?" asked Magi. 

"Oh, those are Betty's things. I'm not ready to take them back just yet," quickly stammered Simon. 

"Though I might just destroy them too, I'm not sure," he added. 

"Whoa, bro! What are you saying?" asked Magi. 

"I've been thinking; Betty is gone now. That means there isn't any reason to keep all of her stuff," said Simon. 

"But what if you want to keep it all as a keepsake?" ABD interjected. 

"I can't keep all of her things around me. It would only make me miserable. I think I need to move on," responded Simon.  
"But-," Magi was interrupted by Little Dude. 

"You guys!! As Simon's friends, we should support his decision." 

"Yes, I know that, but I'm worried that this will do more harm than good," said Magi. 

"So you _aren't_ supporting him?" asked Little Dude with a bit of sass. 

"I never said that!" shouted Magi. 

"ANYWAY, what can we do to help?" asked ABD loudly. 

"It's quite simple, really. Even though it has severe heat resistance, a prolonged exposure to heat should destroy it," said Simon. 

"Ooh! Ooh! I got it! We could dump it in the lava pits! There's some on the outskirts of the Ice Kingdom leading into the Fire Kingdom. That way we can destroy it without burning alive," shouted Magi with excitement. 

"Wooooow, that's probably the best plan you've come up with all day," Little Dude said under his breath. 

"I swear to Grod…" exhaled Magi. 

"Alright, let's get this thing on the sled," went Simon. 

The group lowered the block of ice on to the sled that was left alongside the rest of the stuff. Once it was on, Simon began to tie it down with some rope he had at the ready. Then, Ice Thing and Magi began to pull as Simon, ABD, and Little Dude began to push. They went out of the room, up the stairs, through the living room, and out the door. 

"Ok, Ice Thing, do your stuff!" said Simon. 

"OH YEAH!" shouted Ice Thing.  
Ice Thing grabbed the sled with his feet and, flapping his beard like wings, the started to push. 

"Ok… where're we going again?" asked Ice Thing. 

"Edge of the Fire Kingdom," said Little Dude. 

"OK!" shouted Ice Thing. 

Ice Thing zoomed straight for the Fire Kingdom. Soon, the landscape began to change from a frozen tundra, to a sauna-like forest with steam rising from the ground. 

"Hmmm, this still looks a bit too hot for us. Ice Thing, try and find an elevated drop-off," said Simon. 

"You got it!" went Ice Thing. 

After a bit of searching, they finally spotted a high cliff that seemed to be not as affected by the heat as other locations. 

"This looks promising. Let's try here," said Simon. 

As soon as they touched down, they were surprised by how warm the air was, despite being so high. 

"Wow, that Fire Kingdom is no joke," said Simon already airing out his shirt. 

The lot peered over the edge and were met with an even greater wave of heat. Hundreds of feet down was a fair sized lava pit, which was so hot that the party began sweating just from peeking over the edge. 

"Ok, let's do this," said Magi. 

The five began undoing the rope and pushed the mostly melted block off the sled. Lined up against the block lengthwise, they began pushing it towards the drop-off. As they pushed, the ground became more and more steep, making it harder to push. 

"Are you pushing hard enough?" Magi asked Little Dude. 

"Of course I am, are you?" responded Little Dude passive aggressively. 

"Chill man. I'm just wondering. You don't have to be so mean about it," said Magi. 

"Oh, would you like me to say that I'm sorry and support you from now on?" asked Little Dude sarcastically. 

"YES! I literally need your support RIGHT NOW!" replied Magi. 

"Oh, I bet you would. What do you think I've been doing all these years?" went the angry hat. 

"Ok, I don't know what the problem is, but we're going to have to have a discussion aft-," 

Magi suddenly tripped on a rock under the snow, falling forward and giving an extra push from his weight. The sudden thrust from one side of the ice block see-sawed everyone on the opposite side backwards. Since his oven mitts were covered in sweat and melted snow, the wet fabric refroze onto the frozen block while it was being pushed, making him stuck. Magi was flung over the edge, hanging by his mitts over a pit of lava hundreds of feet down. The wizard began to panic. The ice he was holding onto was slowly melting away from being exposed to such intense heat. He began losing his grip. 

"DAD!!" yelled Little Dude. 

"AAAAAAAAAAA!!!" screamed Magi. 

"Hang on, I gotcha!" called out Ice Thing. 

As he flew over the edge to grab Magi, a gust of hot steam hit him, and he immediately flew back over the edge and into the snow. 

"Ice Thing! What's wrong?" went Simon. 

"I dunno why, but I just ran out of juice all of a sudden," said Ice Thing face down in the slush. 

"Why, of all things, did I leave my magic carpet??" Simon said to himself. 

Suddenly, Little Dude quickly grabbed the rope and tied it around everyone's waists. 

"Simon! Grab my back feet!" yelled Little Dude standing on the side of the ice block closest to the ground. 

"Abracadaniel, grab Simon's feet! Ice Thing, grab Abracadaniel's feet," continued Little Dude. 

Soon, the group had formed a line that reached down to Magi. 

"Take my hands!!" yelled Little Dude. 

"But what if I don't make it?!" went Magi. 

"YOU'RE GONNA MAKE IT!!" shouted Little Dude. 

Magi looked at the ice, which had now mostly melted, suddenly freeing one of the suit's arms, causing the ice block to inch ever closer to the edge. Magi closed his eyes, took a dep breath, hoisted himself up and ran up the steel suit, grabbing Little Dude's hands. As he grabbed on, the rest of the frozen suit fell from underneath the group, and were left hanging over the lava. 

"Gotcha," went Little Dude. 

The rest of the group got to their feet and pulled up Magi. 

"Phew, that was close- wait, where are my boots?" asked Magi. 

Suddenly, a thunderous roar came from the lava pits. 

"ROOAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!!" 

A moment later, loud thuds could be heard coming from the ground. The group turned around and saw a shiny object jump out of the pit and land right in front of them. It was the suit, but alive. 

"Oh, no, oh, geez, oh, Gob, I must have brought it to life with my feet," said Magi cradling his head in despair. 

The suit just stood there, towering over the group and making garbled noises and growls as it surveyed them. 

"What's it doing?" whispered ABD. 

"I'm not sure," answered Simon. 

Magi gulped, "I think… it might be looking for a wearer." 

The suit's back suddenly opened up, revealing wires, strings of fabric, and belt panels wriggling around like tentacles. The suit stopped scanning the group and glowed and bright greenish-yellow from its eye slits. It had selected its host. It rushed past the group and quickly grabbed Ice Thing. 

"WHOA THERE!!" went Ice Thing. 

Chattering nonsensical noises, the suit bent forward with its back opened, exposing its insides, and began grabbing onto Ice Thing with its straps and wires. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm sorry, but I'm not really into this kinda stuff, well, unless you're a chick, then I'm totally into it," said Ice Thing. 

"ICE THING!! NO!!" yelled ABD. 

It was already too late. The suit had completely entangled the wizard with its tendrils and began stuffing him inside itself. It crammed Ice Thing headfirst into its helmet, making the jewels from the wizard's head visible through the suit. Ice Thing's beard flowed out of the mouth opening, and the rest of the body was soon crammed and strapped into the chest cavity. Once he was completely inside, the suit closed its back, and began taking over Ice Thing's mind. 

"Wow, it's a bit snug in here, don't you thin- HUCDA SUNJEKD FHDIUA OSJBC ILAZBIQ," went the now brainwashed Ice Thing. 

Ice Thing was now subject to the suit's bidding.  
"Ice Thing…" said Simon. 

The suit began using Ice Thing's beard to fly off the ground. Once airborne, it began sniffing the air. Simon looked on in horror. 

"Oh, no," he said. 

"What's wrong Simon?" asked Little Dude. 

"When Magi touched the suit, it was on the spur of the moment. He wasn't thinking because he was clouded by fear and adrenaline. If my theory is correct, those feelings and emotions transferred to the suit, creating a life that's completely instinctual," he said. 

"Well, we already know that Magi's feeling transfer into what he touches. What's your point?" asked ABD. 

"My point is that it probably knows exactly what it's meant to do, which means…" 

The suit then focused its nose in one direction and began flying that way. 

"No, no, no, no, no," went Simon. 

"Simon, what's going on?" asked Little dude.  
"I'll explain on the way. Right now, we need to make some sort of transportation to get us to Princess Bubblegum's party. This sled isn't enough for all of us. Magi, can you make this snow come to life?" said Simon. 

"Uh, yeah," replied Magi. 

"Ok, let's make something! ANYTHING!" yelled Simon. 

"Oh, a horsey," said ABD. 

"Fantastic, just get to building," said Simon. 

The team rolled, puffed, and padded until a gigantic blob of a creature stood before them. 

"Close enough. Alright, Magi," went Simon. 

"Magi touched the snowman creature and whispered, " _Mommy._ " 

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" shouted the snow blob. 

"Ok, big guy, follow that robot!" said Magi pointing towards the suit in the sky. 

"Sure thing, hop on!" it said kneeling down. 

Magi, Simon, ABD, and Little Dude climbed onto its back. 

"Ok, fasten your seat belts!" yelled out the snow blob. 

"Oh, wait, I forgot to add seat bel-AAAAHHHH!!" Magi began screaming as the snow blob began taking great bounds through the forest towards the Candy Kingdom. 


	6. Chapter 6

Marceline spotted Simon amongst the crowd. She and Bonnibel cut through to meet up with him.  
"SIMON!" said Marceline. 

"Marceline, you need to get out of here NOW!" shouted Simon. 

"What are you talking about? What's going on?" asked Marceline. 

"It's all my fault. I should have never made it," Simon stammered. 

"Never made what?" she asked again. 

"No time to explain. It won't stop until it finds you, Marcy. Just run as far away from here as possible. I'll hold it off," explained Simon. 

"Simon, wait! Maybe we can help," said Bonnibel. 

"You can help by keeping Marceline safe- uh, your highness," Simon cut himself off, noticing how brash he was speaking to the princess. 

"Don't worry about it," she replied. 

"I can take care of myself!" interjected Marceline. 

Loud crashes could be heard from the other room. 

"Not against this, I'm afraid," said Simon. 

In through the door came the sentient vampire slaying suit, catching the trio's attention. Marceline instinctively held onto Bonnibel, and Bonnibel did the same. 

"You need to go, NOW!!" Simon yelled out. 

The suit surveyed the room and spotted Marceline. It then began to charge her. 

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOORRRGHHH!!" went Ice Thing from inside the suit. 

"No way I'm running from some bogus tin man! Stand back, babe," said Marceline, gently moving Bonnibel behind her. 

The vampire began to transform into her monster bat form and charged her attacker. The two crashed into one another interlocking their hands, each trying to overpower the other. 

"Who are you?" Marceline growled. 

"RAAGH RAAAOOOOGH!!!" replied the brainwashed wizard. 

"Wait- Ice Thing?" said Marceline, ultimately losing her focus. 

The suit head-butted the vampire in the face. Marceline was knocked backwards, but she caught her balance and got back into fighting position. Finn, Jake, Phoebe, and Huntress Wizard burst through the crowds. Jake grew to the suit's size and started punching it. Meanwhile, Phoebe began flying around the suit, throwing balls of fire at it, and Huntress Wizard shot arrows at its face. 

"Guys!! Be careful!! Ice Thing's in there!!" Marceline yelled out. 

The suit didn't even take notice from the flames, punches, or arrows, and kept staring at Marceline. It sprayed Phoebe with ice breath, knocking her out.   
"AAAAGH!!" she cried out in pain. 

"Princess!!" shouted Cinnamon Bun as he rushed over to her. 

The Flame Princess' knight pulled the unconscious and chilled Phoebe out of harm's way and behind a table that was on its side. The suit then elbowed Jake in the face, knocking him into Finn before the he could even land a hit with his sword. Huntress Wizard climbed up the suit and landed on its nose, still firing arrows, but was flicked away. 

Simultaneously, Marceline ran up to the suit getting ready to punch it's face. The suit dodged, grabbed her arm from behind and put her in a hold. Pinning her down onto the floor, the suit readied its right arm to strike with its protractible stake. 

"Marcy, get out of there!!" shouted Bonnibel with candy people in her arms. 

Marceline quickly transformed into a small rat, avoiding the massive stake before it drove into the floor. While the suit was stuck, Marceline scurried away. Before she could get out the door, the suit started firing a barrage of stakes from its left arm at her, cutting off her exit. Marceline did her best to dodge the stakes, which gave the suit enough time to break loose from the ground. As it was getting to its feet, Finn came running towards it with sword in hand. 

"YEAAAAAAAAAAA!!" went Finn. 

The young man struck a blow upon the suit, but it bounced back. Not even a dent. Finn swung his sword at it again, but it simply bounced off again. It felt like he was swinging the north end of a magnet into another north end of a magnet. 

"Finn! That won't work! It's got demon protection!" shouted Simon. 

"Whaaaaa-," Finn was knocked into a table by the suit's foot. 

"FINN!!" Jake called out. 

As the suit got to its feet, Marceline jumped down from above to dive-bomb the enemy. Without warning, the suit's eyes quickly flashed a bright green light, blinding the vampire. 

"Hssss," went Marceline as she covered her eyes mid-dive. 

The suit then punched Marceline across the room and into the stage. 

"Marcy!!" cried out Bonnibel. 

The ballroom was now relatively empty, but a few stragglers were running around and exploding where Marceline had landed. 

"Simon, go get Finn! Jake, get the rest of those people out of here before there isn't any of them left!" 

Simon ran over to Finn and pulled him away. Jake stretched over to the other side of the room and scooped up the remaining candy people. He stretched his hand out the hole the suit had made in the wall and gently placed them all outside. 

The suit began marching over towards where Marceline had landed. It pulled away the curtains, only to find that she was gone. The suit scanned the area. It knew she was there. It could sense her. Simon and Bonnibel stood watching, wondering where Marceline went. 

"She went invisible," said Huntress Wizard from behind the pair, scaring them both. 

"Though I don't think it'll help," she continued. 

The suit swiftly grabbed the air. Marceline dropped her invisibility and was seen struggling in its grasp. 

"Ice Thing, what's wrong with you?! Let me go!!" she screamed. 

Ice Thing only breathed heavily as the suit again readied its staking arm to drive it through Marceline's heart. 

"NOPE! NOPE! NUH HUH! Finn, I'll be right back," Bonnibel said to a barely conscious Finn. 

Bonnibel sprinted at the armored giant. She pressed a button on her watch, and her shoes started glowing a soft hue, lifting her off the ground. She grabbed onto the arm holding Marceline. 

"Oh, no you don't!" she said with a stern face. 

She proceeded to shoot a thick string of taffy from the palm of her hand into the suit's face. Though the suit was blinded and tried desperately to remove the taffy, it still held a firm grip onto Marceline. Bonnibel, still hanging onto its arm, inched her way over to the vampire. She lifted up her skirt, exposing her upper thigh. 

"Bonnie!!" Marceline yelled out blushing from embarrassment and covering her eyes, but still peering through her fingers to sneak a quick peek. 

"Get your mind outta the gutter, girl!" yelled back Bonnibel as she reached for a flathead screwdriver strapped to her thigh and quickly jammed it into the wrist of the suit. 

She turned, twisted, and wedged until the suit loosened its grip and freed Marceline. The vampire quickly flew away, and Bonnibel hopped off before a giant hand came crashing down on her. The suit-controlled Ice Thing growled and grumbled as the taffy over its eyes and nose just got stickier. Marceline and Bonnibel floated down to the ground where Simon, Huntress Wizard, and Cinnamon Bun were, with Finn and Phoebe lying on the ground. 

Despite being blinded, the suit caught Marceline's scent, and trudged toward her again. Huntress Wizard began running at it. 

"I'll see if I can slow it down," she said while firing arrows at its unprotected joints. 

It fell to the ground, trying to pull the arrows out as Huntress Wizard continued to shoot at it. 

"Ok, Simon, it's distracted. _Now_ can you tell me what the heck's going on? What is that thing, why is it trying to kill me, and why is Ice Thing inside it?" went Marceline. 

"Alright, alright, that's a suit I made to protect myself against vampires and demons shortly after I left you all those years ago. I meant to destroy it, but a terrible accident with Magi brought it to life, and it latched onto the most suitable host in the area," explained Simon. 

Marceline looked over her shoulder at the suit, still struggling. 

"I'm so sorry, Marceline. I built it because I needed to protect myself while trying to find a way to contact your father. I hoped he would come to rescue you, but I wasn't sure how it would go down, so I put extra protection in case he or some other demon attacked me. I feel terrible. I didn't want to tell because I thought you'd be disgusted of me," continued Simon. 

"Why would I be disgusted of you?" asked Marceline still looking at the suit. 

"Marceline, I built that to kill vampires, to protect myself from soul-sucking demons like _you_!" he exclaimed. 

Marceline turned attention away from the suit. "Simon, why would I be upset that you summoned my dad for me? That's the sweetest thing. Plus, I basically killed all the vampires for you, so I'm really not offended." 

"You're… not upset with me?" asked Simon. 

"Of course not, silly… it's just… you're saying it's here 'because of me…?" Marceline asked in a somber tone while turning back to the suit. 

"Well, yes. It's going off its newfound 'instincts,'" replied Simon. 

"Oh…" said Marceline. 

Eventually, the suit torn the taffy away from its face and caught sight of Marceline once again. As it began walking towards her, a pie hit the back of the suit's head, covering its face. Unlike with the previous attacks, the suit took notice of this and turned around to see what or who was responsible. Its eyes landed on Neptr. 

"Don't make me do that again," he shouted. 

"GRRRRRRR," went Ice Thing, wiping the leftover pie from his face. 

As the suit turned back around, Finn came launching through the air. 

"YEAAAAAAAAAA!!" he yelled out, landing on its face. 

"Thanks for the lift, HW!" Finn called out. 

Huntress Wizard changed back from her hawk form and landed on the chandelier. 

Finn lifted his sword looking as though he was about to stick through one of the eye holes. 

"FINN, DON'T!" yelled Marceline. 

"I know! I heard you guys! I got a plan! Imma just mess up his face!" shouted Finn as he proceeded to ram his sword's handle on the suit's nose. 

"BLAAAARGH!!" Ice Thing yelled out. 

The suit tried swatting Finn off its face, but Finn swatted back with his sword. The suit began losing its balance. 

"NOW, DUDES!!" he called out. 

A long table cloth on the ground quickly tightened behind the suit's feet, causing it to fall over on its back. ABD and Little Dude then took the table cloth and tied up the suit's feet.   
"Jake, you're up!!" went Finn as he hopped off the suit's face. 

Jake came running, growing in size, and jumped onto the suit. He began to stretch himself all over the suit's arms and upper body. 

"Alright, Magi, un-animate this fool!" Finn shouted. 

"Roger!" said Magi. 

The wizard with popcorn bags for shoes ran up to the suit and removed a mitt. 

" _ymmoM_ ," said Magi as the suit's life essence began to leave its body and ceased struggling. 

However, the life force reversed back into the suit and it began struggling again. 

"Huh?" went Magi. 

" _ymmoM_ ," he tried again, but the same thing happened. 

Magi began to panic. 

"Why is this happening?!" he asked frantically. 

"Hey, what's, OW, goin' on back there?" asked Jake trying to restrain the suit while being poked and clawed. 

"Nothing! Everything's under control!" Magi lied. 

"You sure? **_PUNCH_** Cause it really **_PUNCH_** doesn't feel **_PUNCH_** like it. **_PUNCH_** I mean, shouldn't he **_PUNCH_** be _not_ living or something? **_PUNCH_** " Jake asked while being punched repeatedly in the face by a robotic arm. 

"YES! I don't know why, but my magic's not working! _YMMOM, YMMOM, YMMOM_!" screamed Magi. 

There was still no effect. 

"Oh, no. The soul lock… it won't let Magi take back the suit's spirit…" said Simon, falling to his knees. 

The suit bean flailing and struggling more violently now. Jake was trying his best to keep it pinned down. 

"Finn, you got a plan B?" asked Jake. 

"Actually, I do! Let's take this outside!" said Finn. 

"Aye-aye, capt'n," responded Jake in a cool voice. 

Jake's foot stretched out the hole in the wall made by the suit, and Jake stretched the rest of his body into his foot, dragging the suit along with him. Once they were outside, Jake grew even bigger so that the suit sat in his clutches. 

"Ok, Jake, what I want you to do is see if you can pry Ice Thing out of there. Maybe Jake-Suit style!" shouted Finn from the hole in the castle. 

"Ok, lemme see here- OW!" As Jake peered into his grasp, he was met with a punch to the eye, and dropped the suit. 

"Oof, that was a cheap shot," said Jake. 

The suit flew back up towards the castle entrance. 

"GET OVER HERE!" roared Jake as he stretched out his arm to grab the suit. 

The suit just dodged his grasp and flew up to the hole in the wall. 

"No way, dude. I'm not gonna let you get any closer to Marceline," said Jake. 

Just as he said that, Marceline flew out of the castle and past the both of them. 

"Oh, hey, Marceline," went Jake. 

"Hey, ya big trash can!! You want me? Come and get me!!" she called out as she flew away from the castle and into the open fields. 

The suit began to follow her. 

"Jake!!" called out Bonnibel. 

"Finn, HW and I are coming too. I got a plan to take out that suit, but first we gotta get Ice Thing out of there!" she explained. 

"Is Marceline in on it, too?" Jake asked. 

"I actually have no idea what she's trying to do, but there ain't no way I'm leaving that donkus handle that thing all on her own," she said with vigor. 

"Alright, hop on!" said Jake, making stairs out of his skin. 

Bonnibel, Finn and Huntress Wizard climbed aboard, and the giant dog ran over to Marceline. 

Meanwhile, Marceline picked a spot where she and the suit could duke it out. It was far enough away from the kingdom so no one could get hurt. She turned around and came face to face with the suited Ice Thing. 

"Ice Thing? Can you hear me in there?" she asked. 

"RRAAAAAAAOOORRRGH!!" it responded. 

"Thought not," said Marceline, throwing aside her already torn up jacket. 

The two flew at each other. The suit's eyes narrowed to tiny holes and began glowing. It then fired a more focused beam of green light, grazing Marceline as she dodged. This attack more than partly blinded her, but nearly cut through her skin. She winced at the pain, but the wound healed rather quickly. Ice Thing then breathed out a dense fog, surrounding the both of them. Luckily for Marceline, she was just as good at using her nose as she was at using her eyes. The suit attempted to strike a blow from the side, but Marceline ducked, grabbed its arm and flung it into a rock. The suit came rushing at her and she flew up, provoking the suit to fire its stakes at her. Marceline started flying in serpentine motions, avoiding most of them, but got hit in the shoulder before she got close enough to kick its face. Distracted from the pain, the suit flew up towards her and swiped at her side with its crucifix claws. Marceline quickly flew out of its reach to heal. She pulled the stake out of her shoulder and examined her side. She noticed that one of the crucifixes had come off and stuck to her skin. She started to laugh. 

"Wow, dude, really?" she said to the suit. 

"You know how long it took me to find a shirt this good? Geez, Simon's gonna owe me big time." 

She pulled the crucifix out of her side. 

"Also, hate to break it to ya, but not all vampire's hate this stuff. You should see my house," she added. 

The suit began flying towards her again, but before it reached her, a giant fist came out of nowhere and knocked it into the ground. 

"Hey-ho, Marcy! The cavalry is here!" Jake shouted. 

Marceline's expression changed from surprise to anger as she saw Bonnibel on Jake's back. 

"What are you doing here, Bonnie? I thought I told you to stay at the castle!" Marceline yelled. 

"Marcy, this thing's too strong. It was literally made to kill you. You think I'd just sit by and watch you die?" said Bonnibel. 

"Yeah! None of us are going anywhere!" interrupted Finn. 

"Don't worry, Marcy. Bonnibel's got a plan to that'll _illkay uitsay_. We'll cover you while PB works on finding a way to bust out Ice Thing," explained Jake. 

A series of stakes shot out of the clouds of fog and dust in the direction of Marceline and the group. Before any of them could hit anyone, Marceline shapeshifted her hand into a giant paw, blocking the stakes. 

"Why don't _you_ , princess, work on the 'killing the suit' part and rest of us will work on getting Ice Thing out of that scrap pile, k?" went Marceline. 

Bonnibel felt a little hurt by that statement. 

"But Marcy, I had a plan…"   
"And I'm sure it's fantastic, but you coming here is NOT a great plan. Go back to the castle, work up some super gizmo like you always do, and Finn, Jake, HW and I will take care of this," Marceline said. 

Bonnibel was heartbroken. She was so worried about Marceline and wanted her to be safe, but she also wanted to fight alongside her like they used to do. 

"Ok, then," said Bonnibel. 

"SKREEEEEEEE!!" she yelled. 

Her Morrow came flying over the horizon and landed on Jake's back. Bonnibel mounted herself onto the bird. 

"Simon and I will start working on the device right away. Good luck, you guys," Bonnibel said before flying off towards the Candy Kingdom. 

"Why do you have to be such a ding dong?" Bonnibel asked herself. 

_Why couldn't you just stay put?_ Marceline thought to herself. 


	7. Chapter 7

"So what's the plan, again?" asked Huntress Wizard. 

"I dunno. Bonnibel's the one who had the plan. She never got to tell us. Do _you_ have a plan, Finn?" went Jake. 

"Me?" said Finn. 

"Yeah, bro! That was some quick thinking back at the castle. You should totally make the plan this time!" said Jake. 

Suddenly, the side of the mountain crumbled further and out came the suit. 

"Marcy, you think you can keep that thing busy for a little?" asked Finn. 

"Sure thing," she responded. 

The vampire turned into a winged, lizard-like monster with tentacles coming out of her arms and flew at the suit. 

"Alright, huddle up, gang," went Finn. 

Jake and Huntress Wizard formed a little circle crouched down to the ground. 

"Ok, so what do we know?" went Finn. 

"Why are you asking us that?" asked Huntress Wizard. 

"What?" Finn asked. 

"It just seems weird. You're just asking us what we know. We want to try and figure out _how_ to stop that thing," said Huntress Wizard. 

"Well, I mean- I wasn't really asking you. I was just gonna, ya know, start listing off the things we know that might be helpful. Then, the things from that list would lead into- JUST LET ME FINISH! I'm trying to come up with an awesome plan in an awesome way!" erupted Finn. 

Huntress Wizard smiled. She thought it was adorable. 

"Ok, so we know that it follows Marceline wherever she goes, and it doesn't like to be overpowered. If Marceline can lure it into some sorta trap, we might be able to get the upper hand," said Finn. 

"Yeah, but I don't think we can sneak up on and clobber it all by ourselves," said Jake. 

An expression of distraught formed over Finn's face. 

"You won't have to," Phoebe shouted from afar, catching the trio's attention. 

The Flame Princess landed on the ground with Cinnamon Bun in her arms. Lady and the pups also arrived, having teleported BMO, Neptr, Slime Princess, LSP, Lemongrab, and the Duke of Nuts. Magi, Little Dude, and ABD arrived on the snow blob. 

"ADVENTURERS, ASSEMBLE!!" shouted BMO in excitement. 

Finn smiled. "You guys rock." 

"You're lumpin' right! No BFF leaves another BFF behind! BFFAST! BFFs Always Stick Together!" proclaimed LSP. 

"Kids?! What are you doing here?" asked Jake. 

"Well, we _were_ having a blast at the party, and we heard a bunch of noise coming from the castle. Then, we heard you were gonna be fighting, and we couldn't bear to miss some old school, old man action!!" said Jake Jr. 

"Even _you_ , Kim Kil Whan?" went Jake. 

The rainicorn-dog hybrid rolled his eyes. "Though fighting isn't one my usual tastes, no family member of our is going to get knocked around without any of us having anything to say about it. Even if it is a stubborn fool such as yourself." 

Kim Kil Whan took a deep breath. "Plus, I do admit, it is pretty fun." 

Jake wiped a tear from his eye. 

"You've grown into a fine gentleman, son," he sniffled. 

"계속 지켜라, 아가야," said Lady with a smirk and crossing her arms. 

"I know, I'm just so proud of our pups," replied Jake, holding back tears. 

"So what's the plan, Finn?" asked Phoebe. 

Meanwhile, Marceline was dodging the suit's machine gun stakes. Each time it ran out of ammo, it pushed its sleeve forward and back again with a clicking sound, reloading its arm with a new round of stakes. It continued shooting, catching Marceline twice in the arm and leg. As she faltered, the suit locked onto the vampire as it reloaded. Before it could fire, a ball of flame hit its arm, messing up its aim. The suit turned Ice Thing's head to see Phoebe, Lady and all of the pups, except TV. 

"You mess with her, you mess with us, jerk!" Charlie yelled out. 

The suit ignored them and turned its attention back to Marceline. 

"Hey! It's rude to ignore people that are talking to you!" said Phoebe, flying over to land a fiery blow to its face. 

Ice Thing blew out a gust of cold winds from his mouth, but the pups deflected it with their teleporting powers. 

"Don't worry, Marceline. We got your back. Finn's got a plan," Phoebe said as she remembered what he told her: 

_"Ok, so our main directive is getting Ice Thing outta that hunk o' junk," began Finn._

_"You! Big snow frog thing, or whatever. Start digging a gorge out of that plateau over there," said Finn pointing to a large mound in the distance._

_"Ok!" responded the snow blob._

_It bounded over and starting digging._

_"We're gonna have to split up into groups. Phoebe, Lady, and pups; you'll provide cover for Marcy. Except you, TV. You're gonna be over at the gorge," said Finn._

_TV sighed. "Fine."_

_"Alright, Lady and pups; make sure Phoebe doesn't get hit by any of Ice Thing's attacks. Phoebe; the suit may be fireproof, but I don't think its weapons are. See if you can burn them. Once the trap is ready, TV will signal you with a flare. You'll tell Marceline fly down that gorge like a bat out of the nightosphere. That should get the suit to follow her. Be sure, as you're covering her, that you're not close to the suit, got it?" said Finn._

_"Got it!" said Phoebe._

The pups and Lady had already formed Super Pup and had managed to block all of Ice Thing's bolts of subzero energy. All stakes that were shot at Marceline were burned by Phoebe. Completely out of ammo, the suit charged through Super Pup, scattering the family, and reached over its shoulder for one of its swords. The Flame Princess rushed in front of Marceline, caught the sword mid swing and began melting it, giving Marceline a window of opportunity. The vampire flew over Phoebe's head and shapeshifted into a horned demon, head-butting the suit to the ground below. It's sword at burned to ash in Phoebe's hand as she brushed it away. 

"Nice one!" said Marceline. 

"You, too," replied Phoebe. 

The two grinned at each other from the surprising effectiveness from their teamwork. 

Suddenly, a rainbow colored flare shot into the sky reading, " _READY_." 

"Alright, Marcy, fly down through that gorge over there," said Phoebe. 

"Uh, ok," said Marceline. 

"This plan had better work," she added as she flew off. 

"It will," said the Flame Princess 

Shortly after, the suit had begun tailing them again. Phoebe threw fireballs at its arm, incinerating the baseball sized stake. She tried burning off the last sword on its back, but it turned over midflight and shot ice breath from Ice Thing's mouth. Super Pup deflected the attack, and Phoebe snuck up from behind and snatched the last weapon. Phoebe flew out from beneath the suit with the sword in hand, and Super Pup spun like a top onto the suit, sending it spinning through the air. It looked like it was tiring, but _NOPE._ It collected itself and continued after Marceline. Its persistence was really starting to get annoying. It was like a boomerang. A really, really, _really_ annoying boomerang that was only coming back to one person and wanted to kill them. 

Marceline flew through the gorge with the suit not far behind. Phoebe, Lady and the pups carefully flew overhead, making sure that Marceline was safe. Meanwhile, further down the gorge, Neptr was position on a small ledge along the inner wall, remembering his father's instructions: 

_After Phoebe, Lady and the pups flew off, Finn turned his attention to the rest of the group._

_"Alright, the next team will take their position at the gorge. This will consist of HW, Neptr, Jake, TV, Magi, ABD, Duke, and CB. Neptr, as soon as you see that suit, I want you to fling as many pies as you can at its face. The suit can see, but I think it relies on its schonz for most catching them vamps. The pie might donk it up. Once that happens, TV, who'll be with Neptr, will shoot another flare telling Marcy to fly up, leaving the suit wide open for the next part. A big net, made by Huntress Wizard, will be waiting further ahead. The four ends will be tied to boulders, which Magi, ABD, Duke, and CB will push over the edges onto the suit as soon as it comes into range. Meanwhile, Jake will be positioned right below the net to wrap up the already netted suit once it lands on him. Got it?" went Finn._

_"No prob, Father Bob," replied Neptr._

Before long, Marceline, the first team, and the suit came flying down the gorge. Neptr narrowed his eyes, waiting for the right moment. 

"What are you waiting for? Throw the pies," said TV. 

" _Not yet…_ NOW!" went Neptr, shooting a barrage of pies from his microwave. 

The pies splatted onto the face of the suit, covering its eyes and nose. 

"DIRECT HIT! Are you proud of me, Father?" shouted Neptr. 

TV shot a second flare into the air reading, " _FLY UP._ " 

TV sighed. "This is so stupid. They get to catch it, beat it up and stuff, and I get stuck with flare duty." 

Marceline saw the flare and flew up, with the suit still flying straight ahead, unware that she was gone. 

"NOW!" shouted Huntress Wizard. 

The group of four pushed their boulders over the ledges, bringing the vine net onto the suit. The suit crashed to the ground onto Jake's belly. Jake quickly enveloped himself over the downed suit. Huntress Wizard fired some arrows into the ground, causing vines and roots to grow, and further restraining the suit. Out of shadows, Finn came running with Slime Princess, going over what he went over with the rest of the group in his head: 

_As the second team ran off to take their positions, Finn gathered the last members of the group._

_"Ok, last group will have Little Dude, LSP, Lemongrab, BMO, Slime Princess and me. Once the scrap metal's down for the count, I want you two lovebirds mess with its face. Yell at it, bang it with a stick, whatever you can to distract it," said Finn, pointing to LSP and Lemongrab._

_"Oh, yeah, I'm all about getting in people's faces, right, honey bumpkins?" went LSP._

_"MMMYES, FO SHO!!" replied Lemongrab._

_"Little Dude, while they have it distracted, do you think you can get on its head and mess with it? You know, make it more calm and happy?" asked Finn._

_"Hmm, I'm not sure, but I'll try," Finn's old hat responded._

_"Cool. BMO, if Little Dude is able to chill the suit out, put on some relaxing music and games for him," said Finn._

_"Okki dokki lokki!" went BMO._

_"Slime Princess; you're gonna help me get Ice Thing out, ok?" said Finn._

_"Oh, ok. What, if you don't mind me asking, do you need me to do?" she asked._

_"Once I'm able to wedge open his back door, I want you to go inside and make it all slippy and slidey in there. It'll make it easier to pull him out," explained Finn._

_Slime Princess blushed._

_"Oh my, well I'll do my best," she said softly._

_"Alright, BREAK!" Finn shouted._

LSP and Lemongrab came running from the other side of the gorge, went to the suit's face and started screaming at it. Lemongrab poked it with a stick and hopped up and down on its nose. 

"Hey, ya big stud, check out these lumps!" said LSP in her seductive voice. 

"NNNOOOOOOOO!! I'M LEMONGRAB!! LOOK AT ME!! LOOK HOW SEXY _I_ AM!!" shouted Lemongrab. 

"Sour Patch, we went over this! _I'm_ the sexy distraction!" LSP whined. 

"LETTING A CRUDE, SIMPLE-MINDED BEAST STARE AT MY LOVELY LADY LUMPS IS UNACCEPTABLLLLLLEEEEEE!!!" screamed Lemongrab. 

LSP felt her heart skip a beat. 

"Oh, babe," she said, jumping Lemongrab and making out on the suit's nose. 

The sour smell from the Lemon candy person was enough to keep the suit distracted. Little Dude took this chance to climb atop the head of the suit and put himself on its crown. He struggled to take control, but the suit was too strong. He calmed down, breathed in and out, and really focused. This time, he was able to get some control over the suit. 

"Yaaaay! Now, who wants to play videogames?" exclaimed BMO with a controller in their hand. 

"Oooh, I would love to play some," replied the suit. 

Little Dude reached for the controller with the suit's hands, having a little trouble getting them through the tight vines. BMO put on a game with soothing music. The only objective was to walk through a forest. 

"Ahhh, so relaxing and nonviolent," stated Little Dude. 

Meanwhile, Finn had crawled up onto the suit's leg and began running towards the upper back. As he was running, a single icicle formed out of thin air and fired at him. 

"SPIN MOVE!" Finn shouted, spinning out of the way of the incoming icicle. 

"Guys, this guy knows I'm on his back! Try harder to take his focus away from me!" yelled Finn. 

"I'm trying. Walking through the forest wouldn't be so hard if two people weren't making out in front of the screen," said Little Dude in a strained voice. 

"Oh, Gob," Finn groaned. 

He brushed that thought aside and tried to pry open the back. Unfortunately, the sword wouldn't budge. Finn had forgotten about the demon protection. 

"AW, BUCKETS!" shouted Finn in frustration. 

"Welp, plan B, SP, think you can open it from the inside?" went Finn. 

Slime Princess became flustered. 

"Um, s-sure, just don't look at me," she said with embarrassment. 

"Uh, ok then," said Finn, shutting is eyes. 

Slime Princess leaped out of Finn's backpack and seeped into the suit through the cracks, leaving her crown behind. Some clicks and clanks could be heard, when the back suddenly popped open. 

"Great job, Slime Prin-," 

"NO!! KEEP YOUR EYES SHUT!! This is embarrassing, Finn," said Slime Princess. 

"OH! Sorry!" said Finn with a blush. 

He had caught a glimpse of Slime Princess. She had managed to slime up the insides of the suit. She was nothing more than a pool of slime. Not too much different from her usual appearance, but only a bit messier. She put on her crown and crawled back up into Finn's backpack. 

Ice Thing was lying face down in the suit, covered in slime. Finn began cutting through the wires and belts. The suit took notice of this and began to struggle, knocking Little Dude off its head. Finn held onto Ice Thing's back, refusing to let go as the suit twisted and turned. Jake and Huntress Wizard were luckily able to retrain the suit just a little more for Finn to try once more. Finn quickly got up to his feet began pulling again, but he slipped and started falling backwards. Marceline quickly swooped down and caught him, setting him back on his feet. 

"Thanks," said Finn. 

Marceline and Finn quickly went over to Ice Thing and pulled together, eventually wrenching him out of the suit. Jake, seeing the now freed Ice Thing, stretched out from underneath the suit, and tied it up with his fingers. It was significantly weaker now that no one was wearing it. 

"Boosh," said Jake catching his breath. 


	8. Chapter 8

Meanwhile, in the Candy Kingdom's royal gardens, Bonnibel and Simon were making the finishing touches to the vampire-slaying-suit-destroying device. Simon was rewiring a few things in the controls and Bonnibel was crouched down, welding a sheet of metal onto a large panel on the ground.

"I can't express enough how sorry I am for all of this, princess," said Simon.

"Psssh, this isn't your fault. Like you said, it was just a big accident. Nothing we can't handle. And please, call me Bonnibel. All my friends do," she replied.

Simon looked confused. "We're friends?"

"But of course! Hand me that ramgrumber, would ya?" she asked.

Simon looked over at the tool box, not knowing what she was referring to.

"It's the one that looks like a duck holding onto a tambourine," Bonnibel added.

"Ah," said Simon handing over the tool to her.

"Anyways, but didn't I do horrible, terrible things as the Ice King?" he asked.

"Naaah, the worst you ever did was kidnap me, and got me possessed by the Lich, and had me turn back into a thirteen-year-old, which made thing really awkward with- you know what, it's all in the past, and that wasn't the real you, so you can just forget about it," said Bonnibel abruptly.

"Forget about it, huh?" Simon quietly said to himself.

Before long, Simon had finished rewiring the controls. All that was left was for Bonnibel to finish welding.

"Do you need any help?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm good," she replied.

"Hey, I… wanted to apologize about Betty. I feel that if I wouldn't have been so concerned with fighting, I could have helped her…" Bonnibel added.

"What? Nononono, it wasn't your fault. You had to do what you had to do…" said Simon.

Sometime had passed before Simon decided to break the silence.

"You think it'll be done in time?" he asked.  
"Trust me, with Ooo's smartest minds on the case, this'll be done in a jiffy," Bonnibel responded.

"You're really going through an awful lot just to dismantle some robotic suit," said Simon.

"Why wouldn't I be when one is trying to kill my best friend this very moment?" Bonnibel raised her voice.

The princess stopped welding and removed her helmet, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Sorry, I just- I'm just really stressed out," she said.

"You really care about her, don't you?" went Simon.

"Well, yeah. I know we don't seem that similar, but she really gets me and I really get her. She knows full well all the pretty rank things I've done in the past, and yet she still stays by my side… I love her," said Bonnibel, fiddling with a wrench.  
"And you don't wanna leave her side either, I presume," added Simon.

"No! that's the last thing I want to do," she said while putting her helmet back on and continuing to weld.

"Well, when I suggested leaving the kingdom to move in with her, she got all defensive and seemed super against it. I mean, I understand where she's coming from, but it's not the only reason I want to leave. This war very nearly pushed me over the edge into total psycho mode. I didn't stop for second to think about the possibilities of my actions."

"But you were only doing what you felt was right for your kingdom," said Simon.

"That's what Marceline said, but…"

"But what?"

"It's more than that. I don't want my work to consume me like it's done in the past. Last time that happened, I lost Marceline, and I don't want to lose her again," said Bonnibel.

"Oh…" replied Simon.

"I thought after all these years of me ruling the kingdom and barely having any time for her, she'd love the idea. Does she really not want me to live with her that badly?" Bonnibel asked.

Simon kneeled down to her level.

"Listen, I've known Marcy from when she was just a little girl, and when I had to leave her, it was the hardest thing for not just me, but for her, as well. Living all alone for so many years must have hardened her heart just a smidge. I'm sure she'll eventually open up to you about what she's feeling. I'm not sure what's going through her mind right now, but one thing is for certain: you mean the world to her, and there's no changing that."

Bonnibel smiled.

"Thanks, Simon," she said.

"Erm, princess?" a banana guard called out.  
"Yes?"

"The guests of honor are back with that big robot," he said.

Out from behind the castle came Jake. He carefully stepped over houses and garden walls, and shrunk down to regular size with the suit still wrapped in his fingers.  
"Jake!" went Bonnibel.  
"Alright, where do you want this, princess?" Jake asked while trying to catch his breath.

"Right in between these two panels," said Bonnibel.

Jake lifted the suit over in between the two tall metal walls. In the ground were bolted down chains. Once the suit was parallel to the panels, Bonnibel and Simon proceeded to lock up the suit with the chains.

"Alright, it's all chained up, Jake. You can let it go now," said Bonnibel.

Jake unwound his fingers from the suit, and it resumed struggling. It was much less intimidating and was clearly a lot weaker.

"Wow, you sure took a beating," said Simon, staring at Jake's bruises.

"What, these? Aw, these ain't nothin'. I feel like a million bucks- OW- hehe… I'm just gonna… sit down for a bit. Not that I _need_ to sit, I'm just… past my usual bedtime, and this grass feels so soft, and it's so nice out..." Jake trailed off as he began to fall asleep standing up.

"Um, actually, Jake, I'm gonna need you to hold these panels in place, so that they're facing each other," said Bonnibel.

Jake woke back up with a quick snort.

"HM? Oh! Sure thing, PB," he said with droopy eyes.

Inhaling a big gulp of air, Jake only managed to triple his size, nowhere near to how big he was before. He grabbed both the panels, and began to slowly lift them up, arms wobbling like jell-o.

" _Work… through… the pain…_ " he mumbled.

As he was lifting the panels, the rest of Ooo's warriors arrived.

"Everyone! Are you all ok? Were you able to get Ice Thing out in one piece?" asked Bonnibel.

"Heck yeah, we did!" said Finn.  
Ice Thing hopped off the snow blob's back.

"Hey, guys! Hope you didn't start the party without me!" he said.

"How'd you do it?" asked Bonnibel.

"Well, I made this whole plan that was going super well, but it would have blown up in all our faces if it weren't for Marceline. She swooped in at the last second and yanked Ice Thing out of the suit like a veggie," said Finn.

Bonnibel looked over at Marceline, who turned her head in response.

"Really? That was awfully brave of you, Marce. Kinda reckless, too," Bonnibel said to Marceline.

"Said the kettle to the pot," Marceline responded with attitude.

Bonnibel sighed.

"Marcy, I know I should have told you sooner about me leaving, and I know I should have asked you earlier about my living situation, but I-"

"That's not what I'm upset about. Well, I _am_ , and I think you should stay, but I'm upset about something else," interrupted Marceline.

"About what?" asked Bonnibel with concern.

"Can we talk about this _after_ we destroy the suit that's trying to kill me?" snapped Marceline.

"Ok," replied Bonnibel.

She turned around and grabbed one of the two control switches.

"Simon, get ready," she said while walking over to the left panel.

Simon took his controller and quickly rushed over to the right panel. Once the two were in position, Jake had finally got the panels standing up straight.

"You got it, Jake?" asked Bonnibel.

" _YERP,_ " went Jake through gritted teeth.

"Alright! Commence Operation: Rust Bucket!" shouted Bonnibel.

Both Simon and Bonnibel flipped their switches, and the panels started making a low humming noise. Soon, clouds of mist were being sprayed through the holes of the panels directly onto the suit.

Finn walked up to Bonnibel.

"So, Bubblegum, what exactly are those things doing?" asked Finn.

"They are going to cause the suit to rust. My panel is a negative electrode, and Simon's is a positive one. A weak electrical current is being run from his to mine. This should help speed up the process and do a more definitive job rusting the metal away," Bonnibel explained.

"Cool," replied Finn.

After a few minutes, Bonnibel noticed little pieces of the suit's armor chipping away.

"It's working, Simon!" she said.

"Hot dog!" exclaimed Simon.

Bonnibel placed her control switch on the ground and walked over to Marceline.

"Ok, it'll be dead soon, so you wanna tell me what's eatin' ya?" asked Bonnibel.

Marceline avoided eye contact.

"I'm just so worried. Aren't _you_ worried? Leaving the kingdom and all?" she asked.

"Marceline, we already went through this. Quit avoiding what you really want to say and just say it," Bonnibel said with a stern voice.

"I mean, think about it, _your_ work is saving us right now. You aren't putting the kingdom in danger, you're saving it," Marceline added.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without everyone's help, and you know that's not the answer I'm looking for. Why don't you want me to live with you, Marcy?"

Everyone gasped.  
"Wait- for real, girl?" LSP asked Marceline.

Marceline got more nervous from all the stares.

"B-because you need to be here, not with me. The kingdom won't survive without you," stammered Marceline.

Simon turned his attention away from the pair when he heard a small scraping noise.

"I don't think that's the issue. Sure the kingdom might need to adjust from the change, but it most surely won't die. I think you know that the kingdom will be just fine," said Bonnibel.

"NOT IF I'M AROUND!!" burst Marceline.

Bonnibel was in shock.

"Marcy…"

All of a sudden, the suit broke through its chains, which it had been tediously cutting with its claws.

"MARCY, LOOK OUT!!" yelled Simon.  
The suit jumped in front of Marceline, knocking Bonnibel off to the side.  
"BONNIE!!" screamed Marceline.

Before Marceline or anyone could attack, the suit began strobing blinding light from its eyes, stunning nearly everyone in the garden. Everyone fell to the ground covering their eyes, and Jake dropped the panels and fell over onto the ground. The suit swiftly grabbed Marceline by the neck, still flashing its lights in her face.

"AAAAGH!!" cried Marceline, as her face began to burn.

"MARCELINE!!" called out Simon

The suit's eyes then stopped flashing and began to narrow. It lifted her up as it prepared to fire a concentrated beam of light straight through her head. It's eyes began to glow, and then…  
**_BOOM!!_**

The suit was blown to bits, with pieces of armor being sent flying and disintegrating into rust as they hit the ground. Bonnibel had on her welding helmet and had bazooka over her shoulder. Marceline slowly floated to the ground on her knees, still blinded. Bonnibel threw her helmet and bazooka to the side and ran to Marceline and hugged her.

Bonnibel broke from the hug to look at her injuries.

"Are you ok?!" asked Bonnibel.

"Peebs, I'm fine! They're just burns. They'll heal. Can't really see that well right now, either. Are YOU ok, though?" responded Marceline.

"I'm fine, and I don't care if you can heal. You still got hurt," replied Bonnibel.

Bonnibel pulled Marceline in for another hug and laughed softly.

"Geez, so that's what it felt like for you," she whispered.

"Huh?" went Marceline.

"Back then, when you thought you lost me."

Marceline smiled and hugged her back.

"Marcy, what did you mean, 'not if you're around?'" asked Bonnibel.

Marceline's smile faded and she broke from the hug.

"It came here because of me. This was all my fault. All because I wanted to be with you, and you almost got hurt because you wanted to be with me. I thought I had moved past this, but once Simon told me about _that_ , I realized that I'd only be a nuisance. I'd screw everything up, like I always do. I'd just make things harder for you if I was always around. These people need you way more than you need me," said Marceline.

Meanwhile, everyone else, whose visions were slowly returning, heard everything and were speechless. Bonnibel looked the most distraught. She scooched closer to Marceline and held her hands.

"You're right about one thing: tonight was pretty gunky. There's always gonna be gunk, in life, at work, at home, wherever, and the really bad gunk likes us a lot. That real nasty type of gunk. It likes to follow us and get all up in our emotional sinks and make them all clogged up," said Bonnibel.

Marceline lowered her head in despair.

"But you know what? As long as we're together, it makes dealing with the gunk a whole lot easier. I know you were worried when Simon told you about the suit. It must have made you worry about who you are, and that you bring bad jubies wherever you go, but even if that's the case, don't you DARE think for a moment that that's a valid excuse for you to stay away from me. It's actually quite the opposite."

Bonnibel cupped Marceline's face in her hands.

"I love you the way you are, flaws and all. I'm not exactly sure how you feel about me being your life, but I sure as heck need you in mine. So you better get used to me, cause I ain't goin' nowhere," said Bonnibel.

As Bonnibel finished talking, Marceline's vision had returned to her. The two embraced, receiving a collective "AWW" from the crowd, whose vision also came back. The pair broke away and Marceline wiped some tears from her face.

"Ok, I admit, I think the kingdom will be ok, but I know you're a little worried about leaving. Don't you think you should stay just a little bit longer? Just at least long enough to make sure that another monster doesn't come crashing through the town?" asked Marceline.

Bonnibel giggled.

"Geez, you're just deadest on me staying, huh? It'll be really sad with you not around as much," she said.

"Well… why don't I move in with _you_?" asked Marceline.

"Awww," said Jake groggily, face down in the ground.

"Hmmm… ok, I'll do it under one condition," said Bonnibel.

"And that is?" asked Marceline.

"You _always_ stay with me, always at my side. Even if I decide to leave someday, you'll always be with me, wherever I go."

"… Deal…" replied Marceline.

Bonnibel got up on her feet and held out her hand to help Marceline up. Marceline grabbed her hand and started chuckling.

"It's funny, it's almost like you're vowing to spend the rest of your life with me," Marceline said as Bonnibel lifted her off one of her knees.

"Hehe, yeah, I guess it is," Bonnibel laughed.

"That's great, 'cause that makes it SO much easier to do this," said Marceline, holding Bonnibel's hand with both of hers, still on one knee.

Bonnibel had on a look of confusion for a moment, and a split second later, her expression changed into shock and disbelief.

"OH MY GLOB! OH MY GLOB! OH MY GLOB!" shouted LSP.

"Hey, what's happening? Can somebody fill me in?" went Jake, face still in the ground.


	9. Chapter 9

_A few hours earlier…_

"So I was rummaging through some of my old stuff and I found something that I thought you could use," said Simon, picking up small box and handing it to Marceline.

The vampire peeked inside. A sudden wave of emotions and thoughts came crashing down on her.

"Simon, is this…?" Marceline went.

"…Yes, yes it is. It was supposed to be Betty's, but I think you might know a way to put it to good use," he responded with a light smile.

A large blush formed over Marceline's face, and she immediately shut the box

"Nonononono!! Nuh uh!! No way!! Simon, I can't!!" Marceline stammered.

Simon held her hands tightly with the box in her grasp.

"Yes, you can," said Simon reassuringly.

"Marcy, everything you've told me is exactly the same way how I felt when I was with Betty. Because of my stubbornness, I've lost her and my chance to be with her forever. And don't want you to lose your chance."

Marceline hesitated.

"You always want to be with her, don't you?" Simon asked.  
"There isn't anything I want more, but how am I even gonna do this?" she asked nervously.

Simon smiled. "Marcy, as long as you feel the way you feel, there's no wrong way to do it. Have faith in your feelings and you can do anything," he said with vigor.

Marceline and Simon gave each other a big hug.

"Oh, shoot! The party should be starting soon! You should get going!" went Simon as he opened the door.

"You got it?" he asked.

Marceline blankly nodded and replied with a short, "yep", as she stuffed the box in her pocket.

_A few hours later…_

Marceline reached in her pocket and pulled out a small box.

"Oh my Gob, this is really happening!!" squealed LSP.

"Bonnie-," began Marceline.

" _ACH MEIN GLOOB, YES!_ " went Bonnibel.

"Whoa! Slow down, Bon-Bon, I haven't even asked you yet!" laughed Marceline.

"Sorry, sorry," said Bonnibel.

"Anyway, you know I'm not that good at this kinda stuff. Lyrics are more my style, so I'll just cut to the chase," continued Marceline.

"YES!!"

"Bonnie, can you at least _try_ to make it to the end??" asked Marceline.

"SORRY! I'm sorry. Ok, ok, I'm good," said Bonnibel.

Marceline readied herself.

"Bonnibel Bubblegum-"

"YES."

"Bonnie!! Let me finish!!" yelled Marceline while laughing and beginning to cry.

"Bonnibel Bubblegum, I know that-"

"YES."  
Marceline stopped and glared at Bonnibel, both grinning like dorks and failing to hold back tears.

"You look really stupid right now, btdubs," commented Marceline.

"Shut up and keep going, you butt," Bonnibel quickly and loudly whispered.

The two really focused this time.

"Bonnibel Bubblegum, I know we've more than just friends for a while now, but…"

Marceline opened the box, revealing a golden ring with a white diamond in its center.  
"… do you wanna be more than just 'more than just friends?'" she asked.

"DUH! Of course, ya ding dong!" Bonnibel yanked Marceline up to her feet and pulled her in for a big kiss.

An even larger crowd consisted of candy people and party goers now surrounded the couple, and cheer and applauded. Simon was probably the most emotional, finding it hard to keep clapping from constantly wiping tears from under his glasses. After a long, passionate kiss, the two embraced, touching their foreheads together and smiling.

"Ahem," went Simon nearby, catching Marceline's attention.

"Simon, I did it!!" said Marceline, pulling him in for a hug.

"I knew you could do it," he replied.

"SHMOWZOW, YOU GUYS!! We gotta start planning the wedding!!" said Finn.

Marceline's eyes widened as the realization hit her.

"AW, CRABLEGS!!" yelled Marceline.

"Hey!" went Crab Princess.

"I didn't even think about that!! This party was such a big thing to put together. It makes no sense to have a wedding right after such a huge shindig," said Marceline.

Bonnibel looked around for a moment.

"Yeah… what sense _does_ it make?" she went.

"What?" asked Marceline.

"Let's get married tonight, right here before the night ends!!"

" _Really?!_ " went Marceline again.

"Yeah! Why not? Everyone we care about is already here, and we pretty much have all the decorations and stuff to make it happen!" explained Bonnibel.

As crazy as it sounded, it actually made sense to Marceline.

"Heh, ok! Let's get married!" she replied.

"If you're gonna get married tonight, you're gonna need all our help," said Finn with everyone else standing by at the ready.

"Well, obviously, but for the moment, IT'S PARTY TIME!!" shouted Bonnibel.

Everyone cheered and went back up to the ballroom. It may have been destroyed, but nothing can destroy the party spirit. That and Party Pat's sound equipment had survived. Marceline and Bonnibel, holding hands, walked into the ballroom and started dancing to one more song. Magi noticed that Little Dude was off by the demolished snack table and walked over towards him and sat down.

"Hey," said Magi.

"Hey," Little Dude replied.

"Thanks for saving my life," said Magi.

"You're welcome," responded Little Dude.

"Don't you wanna party?" the wizard asked.

"I'm sorry," the hat said.

"You don't have to be sorry about not partying," said Magi.

"No, not that. I'm sorry about being so mean before," Little Dude corrected.

"Oh, yeah, why _did_ you start acting like that? You usually never acted like that," went Magi.

"I've just been getting super frustrated with trying to give you positive support and you taking offense by it. For instance, I kept trying to tell on your driving test that you were doing great, but you never seemed to acknowledge my praise and thought I was insulting you, or that other time when I was spotting you with deadlifts that you were improving, and you just screamed at me," explained Little Dude.

"Oh, geez. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. All my life, my papa ridiculed me about everything, and I hated him for it. I promised myself that I would be a better father to you than he was to me. I started doing a bunch more stuff so that I could take better care of you the only way I knew how, like workout and learn to drive, but I guess I got so caught up in trying to perfect myself that I ended up being too hard on you. Maybe that's what my papa was going through," trailed off Magi.

The two sat there for a moment, until Magi stood up.

"Well, whether or not he was going through the same thing, that doesn't mean he should have treated me like that, and that goes the same for me. I'm sorry, son," said Magi.

Little Dude started crying.

"You know, I could use a dance right about now," he said.

The went over to the dancefloor and started boogieing. Marceline saw the whole thing from the sidelines.

"You ok, Marcy?" asked Bonnibel.

"Yeah… I think… I think I wanna invite my dad," said Marceline.

"Whoa! You sure?" went Bonnibel.

Marceline lightly smiled and nodded her head.

"Yeah."

The two continued to dance.

Meanwhile, Simon had been standing by the doorway, drinking punch and staring at the statue of Betty. He walked out the door and into the garden. He walked over to a gazebo and noticed Finn was hanging out there, too.

"Oh, sorry for my intrusion," said Simon

"Nah, dude, it's cool," Finn reassured.

Simon smiled, walked up the steps and leaned on the rail with Finn.

"Likin' the party?" asked Finn.

Simon dozed off for a bit.

"Hm? OH! Yes! Well, I'm ecstatic for Marceline and Princess Bubblegum, but I just need some time to myself for a bit," explained Simon.

Finn read him like a book.

"Yeah, that statue in there made me think of someone I lost too. His name was Fern. He was me, but at the same time, he wasn't. I dunno, still a little foggy on that. Either way, I miss talking with him," went Finn.

"I see," replied Simon.

"But whenever I miss him, I go visit him and just hang out," added Finn.

"Pardon me?" went Simon.

"Oh, yeah, I planted him and he turned into a tree. It's the closest thing I've got to him. Who knows; he might come back for real, or he might stay a tree forever. Whatever happens, I'm always gonna visit," said Finn.

Simon continued to listen to Finn while staring off into the distance.

"I guess you miss someone, too?" asked Finn.

"Yeah… Betty. I've been planning for days now to break off all of my connections with her. I couldn't bear to have all those memories surrounding me, but at the same time, those were some of the fondest memories in my lifetime," said Simon.

"Well, if you still care that much about her, then you shouldn't give up," said Finn.

"But she's part of GOLB now…" said Simon.

"Part of GOLB or part of a tree, doesn't mean she's gone," the young man added.

Simon went silent for a moment.

"Never give up, dude…"

"… Ok…"

The two stood there for a few more minutes.

"Ok, I think that's enough fresh air! Let's go inside! My Marcy's getting married in a couple hours!!" exclaimed Simon.


	10. Chapter 10

_A couple hours later…_

Thanks to the leftovers of the party, putting the wedding together was a cinch. Chairs were set up from the royal gardens leading all the way into the candy forest, turning it into an altar. Fireflies called upon by Huntress Wizard lit up the ground. It was perfect. All that needed to be done was have the brides fitted for their clothes. Bonnibel and Marceline went into separate rooms with a select few they chose to help them decide what to wear. Finn, Jake, Lady, Mr. Pig, and Aunt Lolly were with Bonnibel, and Simon, LSP, Tree Trunks, Phoebe and Cinnamon Bun were with Marceline.

"Oh my Grod, what the jam am I doing? _What am I doing??_ This is insane," Bonnibel panicked.

"Bubblegum! You're freaking out again. You should be happy! You're getting married!" said Finn.

"Well, why am I so scared? Am I doing the wrong thing rushing it like this?" asked Bonnibel.

"Absolutely not. I mean, sure, it seems a bit last minute, but you're doing this because you've probably been waiting so long to do it, right?" asked Finn.

"Mhm," responded Bonnibel.

"And sometimes you can love someone so much, it gets scary," Finn added.

"What do you think, princess: dress or tux?" asked Mr. Pig pointing to the pair clothes.

Bonnibel composed herself and began to choose.

At the same time, Raggedy Princess was finishing Marceline's dress. She may have been a hard core, punk rock, too-cool-for-school vampire, but secretly always wanted to try on something frilly and floofy. While RP was spinning the dress around Marceline's body, LSP and Simon did her hair into a nice bun. Tree Trunks set out an array of bouquets to pick on the counter.

"Hey, Marceline," said Simon, causing Marceline to look up.

"I'm really proud of you."  
Marceline smiled.

"Gurrrl, you are looking SO fine!! Bubblegum's gonna freak when she sees you in that," said LSP.

"Thanks, LSP. I know I made you the maid of honor, but _promise_ me that you won't crash this party. I want you to be on your best behavior," said Marceline.

LSP rolled her eyes and sighed.

"FIIIIINE. Well, we're gonna go get _ready_ then," LSP said, winking to the rest of the group.

"Welp, we’ll let you two have a moment. We’re gonna go get some chili poppers," LSP said while shoving everyone out of the room.

Once they were out, Simon sat down next to Marceline.

"You look gorgeous," he said.

"Thanks, Simon," she replied with a blush.

"Man, what a night. When I got up this evening, I _did not_ think I would be wearing something like this by the end of the night. Holy cow…" went Marceline, put her hands on her head.

"Hey, you're gonna do great," said Simon.

"Heh, you sure about that?" asked Marceline nervously.

"Marcy, if there's anything I've learned tonight, it's that you can't be so hung up on thoughts and logic. What you need to listen to is your feelings, but it goes further than just that. Once you understand your feelings, you just… go for it. Don't think, because you'll know, don't worry about what you feel, because it's in your heart. In times like these, nothing else matters, but that one thing. This thing, it's more than just a feeling, and you have to trust and believe in that one thing no matter what."

"What is it?" asked Marceline.

"I think you already know what it is," replied Simon.

Marceline smiled, and the two hugged, when suddenly the door burst open.

"Marcy!" said Hunson.

"Dad! You made it!" Marceline said while giving her old man a hug.

"Whoa, did I walk into a maple factory? 'Cause it is sappy in here," Marceline's father said.

Marceline realized how emotional she was being and quickly backed out of the hug blushing.

"Hehe, sorry. I'm just… really glad you could make it," she said.

"Of course, Marceline… so what's the occasion?" asked Hunson.

Marceline face palmed and groaned.

Everyone had taken their seats. Finn, stood behind Bonnibel at the altar. Jake was slightly downstage to play the viola. Next to Jake was Wild Berry Princess, testing her keyboard. Bonnibel stood closest toward the center of the altar, wearing a hot pink vest, with a magenta tux and pink bow tie. Her pants were also magenta, and she had on dress shoes with white quarters and black toe caps. In the center of the altar stood a stool with Shelby on it. He wore his priest collar from filming _Heat Signature 2_ with Jake and BMO. He had small pieces of paper in front of him that looked like they had been ripped out of books. Wasn't much of anything left from the old treehouse, so he made due with what he had and hoped he could wing it. In the front row sat Hunson next to Breakfast Princess and Starchy.

"Hey, see that pink lady there? That's my little girl's soon-to-be wife!" he whispered.

"Yes, we know. We saw her propose three hours ago," Breakfast Princess said, rolling her eyes.

"Starchy's quite surprised. Who would've thought that our sweet princess would be getting hitched to the queen of vampires?" said Starchy.

"Everyone. Literally everyone," said Doctor Princess from the next row down.

Ice Ting flew down to the ground and walked to the center row.

"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?" he asked.

"Why, no, help yourself," replied Turtle Princess.

Ice Thing took a seat next to her and opened a bag of rice.

"Kinda weird how they were serving rice that hasn't even been cooked yet in plastic bags," he said as he began shoveling the dry rice into his mouth.

"I think those are meant for the end of the ceremony when you toss the rice on the newlyweds," explained Turtle Princess.

"What?! Why would anyone waste perfectly good, uncooked rice like that??" Ice Thing exclaimed.

Turtle Princess just laughed.  
"I suppose it does seem rather wasteful."

"Man, if I had brought my rice cooker, I'd whip up a mean fried rice," he said.

"Oh, you cook?" asked Turtle Princess.

"Not so much a hobby as a profession," bragged Ice Thing.

"Well, then you'll have make me something sometime," she said with a giggle.

Bonnibel was nervously patting her hands against her sides and rocking back and forth on her feet. Finn tapped her shoulder.  
"Hey, you've got this," he said.

Bonnibel took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"I know, I'm just really excited," she said with a big grin.

Suddenly, one of the banana guards waved to Jake and WBP, and they started playing Pachelbel's Canon.

This signaled for everyone in the audience to look down the aisle behind them. The first to walk down was Lolly and Crunchy. Next, Lady and Huntress Wizard came walking down together. Both Finn and Jake were in awe from how pretty they looked in dresses. Huntress Wizard, however, did NOT like the dress at all. It tugged at her butt and she kept almost tripping over the skirt. Huntress Wizard secretly hoped she never got married, but she felt a little better when she noticed Finn staring at her.

Bonnibel was getting more and more antsy, until, finally, she saw her. Marceline was in all white, holding a bouquet of violets, had her hair up in a bun, and wearing a veil over her face. She was waiting in line for the rest of the bridesmaids to walk down the aisle. As she was looking across the crowd, her eyes landed on Bonnibel. Marceline couldn't stop staring at her. Bonnibel couldn't stop staring at Marceline either.

"Ooo 에 PB, 들어와, Peebs," Lady said, waving her hoof in front of Bonnibel's spaced out face.

Raggedy Princess and Slime Princess were next up, standing a few rows ahead of LSP, and LSP was in front of the bride and Simon. She nodded to one of the banana guards, the banana guard waved to Jake and WBP again, and they stopped playing. Finn nodded to Ice Thing, and Ice Thing flew over to the keyboard, took a USB out of his pocket and plugged it into the keyboard. After a few seconds, dance music started playing.

Raggedy Princess and Slime Princess started dancing down the aisle.

" _LSP…_ " said Marceline in voice to make the princess feel guilty.

"Sorry, Marcy-Marce, I couldn't help myself. I know you said no party crashes, but it just _had_ to happen," LSP said.

Marceline gave a stern look, trying to be serious, but ultimately failed as she gave into snickering.

"Oh, what the heck, go shake your groove thang, gurl," she said.

"You know it! Come on, babe!" LSP shouted, pulling Lemongrab's arm as they proceeded to dance.

"Bonnie, I read about this in some magazine from 1,000 years ago. Apparently, it was a big thing for most human weddings," said Finn.

"Hehe, I know, I read it, too," she said smiling.

Finn proceeded to work his way around the audience and started dancing down the aisle alongside Jake, who was wiggling his body to the beat of the music. Next to come dancing down the aisle were Mr. Pig and Tree Trunks, swinging each other around. Following them were Ice Thing and Turtle Princess, with the wizard doing the walking man around the slowly dancing reptile. Next up, Jake again, this time with Lady, waving their bodies along to the rhythm.

Grooving their way behind the stretchy dog and rainicorn were Phoebe and Cinnamon Bun, waving their arms and making a big show with little pyrotechnics added to the mix. After them came the pups, TV and Viola dancing ballet, Charlie and Jake Jr. breakdancing, and Kim Kil Whan doing the tango with his bear wife. BMO and Neptr came afterwards, with Neptr doing the robot, and BMO simply hopping around and laughing. Magi and Little Dude followed behind with some disco pointing. After them came ABD following behind Normal Man in a short Conga line, later followed by a lone, unamused Huntress Wizard, who was plainly walking down the aisle, refusing to dance. That is until Finn showed up dancing beside her, and she then began pumping her arms to the song.

Hunson came next, grooving in a way that could only be described as a mashup of every single popular dance move ever created, causing Marceline to cover her face in embarrassment and Bonnibel to giggle. Following Hunson was the Duke of Nuts and his wife, waltzing to the music. LSP and Lemongrab came dancing again, dancing in exact unison with some killer moves to boot. Colonel Candy Corn stood up from his seat and walked over to Aunt Lolly, offering his hand in a dance. Lolly accepted and the both started boogieing their way down the aisle. At first, she was a bit nervous, but she started to ease up after a while, showing of some pretty impressive clog dancing.

Before long, all of Bonnibel and Marceline's friends and family were dancing all together to the music down the aisle. The couple were looking at each other throughout all the loud music and stellar dance moves, thinking about all they've been through and all the memories they've made with each other and these wonderful people. They couldn't help but smile at all the happy faces. All the friends they've made over the years, everyone they loved, _they_ helped make this happen for them.

As soon as the last couple came dancing down the aisle, the song hit the end of its bridge, and the music began to temporarily fade out. Everyone went back to their spots, and the rest of the audience stood up to await the arrival of the bride. BMO, in a pretty, pink, flowery headpiece, came skipping down the aisle, throwing pedals and yelling, "LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!" Moments later, Marceline and Simon started walking down the aisle, arms intertwined. Marceline and Bonnibel took in the peaceful moment, gazing into each other's eyes and smiling as the distance between them lessened and lessened…

As soon as the song picked back up, Marceline broke into a dance, encouraging Simon to dance along with her. The vampire may have been an incredible singer, but she wasn't as graceful at dancing. In fact, she was a pretty big dork when came to it. Most likely having picked it up from the equally awkward Simon. Bonnibel thought it was adorable. The crowd also didn't seem to care and cheered them on.

"WOOP WOOP!!" called out an applauding and laughing Bonnibel.

They reached the end of the aisle by the end of the song. Simon stood behind Marceline, and Marceline stood facing Bonnibel, both beaming the whole time. Shelby inched forward, cleared his throat, and began reading from his papers.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here tonight to celebrate the union of Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum and Marceline Abadeer, the Vampire Queen, in sweet, delicious matrimony. From now on, these two immortal beings have decided to spend the rest of their lives together. From now on, they are not separate people, but united as one."

Shelby shifted around some papers.

"Umm… Ah! Ok, here we go, AHEM," went Shelby as he found his pickup point.

" _'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not boast. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking, easily angered, or evil. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. Love never ends. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.'_ \- A quote from some book this page used to be a part of."

"That was _OK,_ " Hunson whispered with a shrug.

"SHHHH!!" went Breakfast Princess.

"So do you have your vows ready?" asked Shelby.  
"Yeah, I'll go," said Marceline taking out a little piece of paper.

"Bonnie, I'm not much of a nerd like you are. I'm not into super fancy math problems, or splicing DNA, or any of that bizz, but I just can't get enough of you yammering on about sciency stuff. I've traveled all around the world, and I've seen some of the coolest places ever. I've been on countless tours, taken some sweet vacations, and pretty much had a rockin' time just chillin' and relaxin' on my own, and yet there's no other place I'd rather be right now. I lost my life a long, long time ago, I don't need to eat, I don't age, heck, I don't think I even need to sleep or breathe, they're just old habits of mine, and yet I can't live without you," she said.

Bonnibel, grinning like an idiot, started getting teary eyed.  
"Ok, my turn," she sniffled.

Bonnibel didn't need a paper. She had already decided what she wanted to say.

"Marcy, I'm not as good at writing my thoughts into words like you are, so I'm just going to say what I'm thinking right this moment. I'm not sure where I'd be if it wasn't for you being in my life. I'd probably be some sort of tyrannical dictator with the world at my fingertips, and no one would have been able to stop me," she began.

Everyone in the crowd felt slightly uncomfortable.

"I like her," Hunson said.

"But if anybody wasn't really living, it was me. You always helped me keep a level head in tough sitches, and you helped me be myself again. I just want you to know that… I'm always gonna be here for you, I don't ever wanna leave you ever ever again, or you leave me, and I never wanna stop hanging out with you. Marcy, I love you, and I'm gonna keep loving you till the day I die," Bonnibel said.

Marceline started to cry, too.

"Geez, you really just made that up right now?" went Marceline, rubbing her eyes.

"Not bad, huh," Bonnibel said with a smirk.

"Meh, I think I've heard better," said Marceline jokingly.

"Ok, so is there a ring bearer in the house, orrrr…" went Shelby.

"Oh, dear! That's my cue," Aunt Lolly whispered loudly.

She quickly got up from her seat and sped walked down the hall. Out from around the corner came baby Peppermint Butler in a little tux holding up a pillow with two rings on top, with Aunt Lolly not far behind to make sure he stayed on course. Bonnibel crouched down with open arms and began calling him.

"Come on over here," she said in a soft, sweet voice.

The small peppermint began waddling down the aisle towards the altar.

"Almost there… you can do it…" Bonnibel continued.

Finally, the young candy person reached the end of the aisle and presented the couple with the rings. Marceline reached out for her ring she would present, and she couldn't help but notice the ring that Bonnibel had chosen. It was mostly pink, with traces of gold. Bonnibel picked it up.

"Yeah. Sorry, it's not nearly as good as yours. I had to rush to make it in my lab," whispered Bonnibel.

The princess took Marceline's left hand and placed the ring on her finger. She gave Bonnibel a pondering look as if asking where she got it from.

"It's made out of the rock candy from the mines where we first met," she said softly.

Marceline thought she couldn't cry any harder than she already had that night, but Bonnibel telling her that proved her wrong. She didn't get why she was so emotional about something like _that_. They had been down in those mines countless time. The ring was the same as any other rock they had ever come across. Why was this one so special? Marceline stopped thinking about it and just took a brief moment to appreciate how beautiful ordinary things can be sometimes.

  
"I'm gonna kill you for making my tear ducts work overtime," Marceline said, laughing through sniffles.

"I think it's _me_ who's gonna kill _you_ first," said Bonnibel, who was crying too.

Marceline took Bonnibel's hand and placed her ring on her finger.

"Ok, now, by the power invested in me, I now pronou-," Shelby was saying as the wind suddenly blew his script away.

"… Uhhh… _MMMCHECK, PLEASE!_ " went Shelby.

Bonnibel quickly lifted Marceline's veil over her face, and they wrapped their arms around each other as they kissed, earning a massive applause from the audience.

Simon was smiling and clapping, occasionally wiping away a stray tear.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE NEW QUEENS OF THE CANDY KINGDOM!!" announced Shelby.

After breaking apart, Marceline gave Simon a hug, the couple ran up the aisle, holding hands as the crowd showered them with rice. James Baxter pulled up with an attached carriage.

" _JAAAAAMES BAXTER!!_ " said James Baxter.

As Bonnibel started climbing aboard, Marceline stopped.

"Wait! I gotta do the thing!" she said giddily.

She readied herself and threw the bouquet over her head.

"MOVE IT!!" shouted LSP.

As she was about to catch the bouquet, LSP ran into the snow blob's side. The bouquet flew threw the air, and landed in Turtle Princess' hands while she was talking to Ice Thing.

"Oh, my!" she said with surprise.

"Ooh, cool! Those are pretty! You got a vase to put 'em in?" went Ice Thing.

"Hmm, I think so. I wonder where they came from though…?" she replied.

Marceline hopped into the carriage, and James Baxter drove them away to the other side of the castle where no one was. They pulled up to an empty stage outside with a bunch of empty chairs. Two chairs near the middle read, "For the newlyweds."

The couple laughed.

"Oh, those guys," said Bonnibel.

The two sat down in the chairs, holding each other's hands.

"It's nice that we have some time to ourselves. Did you like the wedding?" she asked.

"Best one I've ever been to," replied Marceline.

"Really?" Bonnibel asked jokingly with a cocked eyebrow.

"What? I don't like relaxing. I like fun," Marceline said with a smirk.

Bonnibel rested her head on Marceline's shoulder.

"There's my Marcy," she said.

After a few minutes of silence, party goers began to arrive, and the stage lit up. Finn and Jake got onstage with their instruments.

"Alright, this one goes to the beautiful couple," said Jake.

"From your best pals and best mans!" shouted Finn with flute in hand.

"We call this one, 'Margum _,_ '" said Jake, readying his viola.

"Wait- I thought we were calling it, 'Bubbline _,_ '" said Finn.

"Finn, we already discussed this; 'Margum' is a perfect combo of their names. "There's _no way_ 'Bubbline' would ever catch on," explained Jake.

Marceline and Bonnibel chuckled.

As everyone was dancing to the music, Candy Corn was sipping some punch when Aunt Lolly accidentaly bumped into him while dancing.

"Oh, my, sorry!" she exclaimed.

"No, no, it's fine. Say, you're gonna be ruling the Candy Kingdom for a little while, yeah?" went the Colonel.

"Looks like it," Lolly shrugged nervously.

"Well, if you ever need assistance with anything, I'd be happy to be of service," he said.

"Dawww, why thank you, love," Lolly replied.

"Haha… ha…" the Colonel said blushing.

"Marcy!" said Simon, handing the couple glasses of sparkling punch.

"Hey, Simon! Some party, huh?" went Marceline.

"Yep, some party," said Simon.

Hunson snuck up from behind and shook Marceline's shoulders.

"OOOOOH, Marceline, you have no idea how important a day this is for me!" he exclaimed.

Marceline cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, this day isn't _nearly_ as important for me as it is for you," she said sarcastically.

"Oh, c'mon, Marcy, don't be like that. I just meant that you'll finally have someone to rule the nightosphere alongside you once I retire," he added.

"DAD!!" blew up Marceline.

"Kidding," Hunson said with a smile.

Marceline shook her head and lightly smiled back.

"If it weren't for this schmuck right here, there'd probably be no Marcy for you to marry! You should be thankful, little pink princess," Hunson said while pulling over Simon, who was smiling nervously.

"I am. Very," said Bonnibel, pulling Marceline closer to her.

"In fact," Hunson stole a glass from a waiter, "raise your glasses on high."

Nobody but Bonnibel and Simon raised their glasses. Bonnibel nudged Marceline with her elbow. The vampire rolled her eyes and raised her glass.

"A toast to my little monster, and her lil' sweet wife!" shouted Hunson holding a drink.

"Dad!" yelled Marceline.

"What? She’s made of candy, isn't she?" Hunson replied.

Bonnibel laughed.

"Hey, Marceline, why don't _you_ sing us a song?" asked Jake from the stage.

Everyone cheered in agreement.

  
"But, dude, she's the guest of honor," said Finn.

  
"Nah, Finn, it's cool," called out Marceline.

She floated up out of her seat towards the stage. Once she got there, Death handed her his guitar.

"This song is about someone kinda special. I call it… 'Happy Ending,'" Marceline said with a smile, eying Bonnibel.

Her wife blushed.

Marceline tuned the guitar and began to play.

_Run away with me_

_And the poltergeists and ghouls_

_We can wander through the darkness_

_And play by our own rules_

_Run away with me_

_To a cavern shaped like home_

_Where we'll build our own forever_

_And never dance alone_

_All my deepest secrets_

_I'll tell them all to you_

_We'll always stick together_

_Forever, through and through_

_Run away with me_

_And the poltergeists and ghouls_

_We can wander through the darkness_

_And live as love-struck fools_

_All my deepest secrets_

_I'll tell them all to you_

_You are mine forever_

_And I'll always belong to you_

_Run away with me_

_And the poltergeists and ghouls_

_We can wander through the darkness_

_And play by our own rules_

_Living as love-struck fools_

The crowd applauded and cheered. Marceline handed the guitar back to Death, who began playing with LSP on the drums, and Ice Thing on the keyboard. Marceline floated back down to sit next to Bonnibel.

"That was really sweet," said Bonnibel.

"Had to make somethin' sweet for a sweet girl," smugly replied Marceline.

The two held each other's hands and rested their heads against each other, watching everyone having such a good time.

"I knew this was gonna be awesome," commented Marceline.

"Really? How?" asked Bonnibel.

"I dunno… I just knew," said Marceline.

"Yeah… me too," said Bonnibel.

The two kissed.

BMO was sitting across the table from them.

"I _LOVE_ LOVE!" said the happy little robot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE shoutout to Angie [https://twitter.com/ango_aleman] and Soupdraws [https://twitter.com/soupdraws] for making the building blocks of this sequence!!!
> 
> (also, sorry for the not-so-subtle Office reference)
> 
> Special thanks to BrookasaurusVA [https://soundcloud.com/brookasaurusva] for the wonderful vocals to my extended version of ‘Happy Ending!!’ I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!


	11. Epilogue

A month had passed after Bonnibel and Marceline's wedding, and they chose to spend their honeymoon in the vampire queen's residence before they would return as the new Queens of the Candy Kingdom. They honestly didn't wanna go anywhere super fancy. They just wanted to relax and spend some quality time together.

Meanwhile, Simon had begun his quest in trying to find a way to save Betty. He scoured the corners of Ooo, went from ruin to ruin, even finding his way to the wish-granter, Prismo. But not even Prismo's power was enough to bring her back. After many weeks of searching, Simon decided to head back to Marceline's to hopefully put together another plan. He arrived to find the house was empty.

He dropped his backpack and sat down at his desk. He held his face in his hands tried to think, but abruptly started sobbing.

Shortly afterwards, Marceline and Bonnibel came in through the front door with groceries in hand and with Peppermint Butler in a stroller. The sun had just set, and they thought they might as well enjoy the fresh air before their baby had to go to sleep.

"Oh! Hey, Simon! How was the trip? Did you find anything?" asked Marceline.

"Not a thing," gloomily said Simon.

Bonnibel and Marceline looked at each other with sorrow in their eyes.

"I'm gonna go put Peps to bed," uttered Bonnibel, indicating that she wanted to give Marceline and Simon some space.

Marceline got the hint.

"Thanks, hun. I'll be up in a minute," she said as she pecked Bonnibel's lips.

Bonnibel unstrapped Pep-But and proceeded to carry him upstairs. Marceline floated over to Simon.

"Hey, it's only been a month. Trying to figure out how to get to GOLB isn't exactly a walk in the park," she said.

Simon continued to hold his face in his hands.

"Not even Prismo could do anything…" he said.

Marceline frowned. She looked at the side of his desk and noticed a large stack of blank sheets of paper.

"So, have you written anything yet?" Marceline asked.

"Of course not. Writing anything would be the equivalent of quitting," replied Simon.

"Simon, you're not quitting. Just think of it as… a sort of rebound. Whenever you get nowhere, start writing some stuff. Trust me, it makes things _so_ much better… and things _will_ get better," said Marceline, resting her hand on his shoulder.

Simon looked at Marceline, wiping tears from under his glasses, and gave her hug.

"Thanks, Marcy," he said.

"No prob. Hey, we picked up some stuff at the store. It's Italian night! What do ya feel like? Pasta? Pizza? Lasagna?" went Marceline.

"Hmmm, I'll have some pasta," said Simon.

"Ok! Lemme go ask what Bonnie wants so I can warm it up," said Marceline as she flew upstairs.

Simon smiled, then he looked at a picture of him and Betty, then at the stack of paper. After a while, he took a sheet of paper and grabbed a pen. He hesitated for a moment, but sighed and started to write.

_Dear Betty,_

_Marcy suggested I write you songs to cope. Well, I was never a very poetic guy. So I've decided to write you letters, instead._

_Betty, is it lonely there? In the eternal void of GOLB?_

_I can't imagine how you could do all that for me, but I'm starting to figure out why._

_Betty, two years ago, when I first found you again, I was so ready to let my life end._

_I felt so lonely and tired of living in this world._

_But maybe this world isn't so bad._

_In fact, Ooo is beautiful._

_I only await the day I get you back, so we can enjoy it together._

_But until that day comes, I'll try to love this life you let me have._

_After all, that's what you wanted, right?_

"Hey, Simon?" called Marceline.

Simon stopped writing and turned to see Marceline already in the kitchen, warming up some food. Bonnibel was preparing a salad beside her.

"You want tomato sauce or alfredo?" she asked.

"Tomato, _duh,_ " said Simon with a smile.

"Cool! It's almost done. Just a couple more minutes," Marceline added.

"Ok, I just need to go do something first," said Simon.

"No rush! We'll keep it nice and hot for ya!" went Bonnibel.

"Thanks!" replied Simon.

He continued writing.

_I have to go for now, but I'll write to you again soon._

_Maybe you'll be here to read that one._

_Until then, my princess._

_-Simon Petrikov, formerly known as the Ice King_

Simon folded up the letter and walked out the front door with it in his hand. He walked out of the cave and into the meadow. In the distance, he spotted a shovel. Once he got to it, Simon grabbed it and began to dig. After a few minutes of digging, he hit metal. Brushing away the dirt, he reached for the metal handle and twisted it open. Inside were all of Betty's things: all intact and not destroyed. Simon dropped the letter inside and then sealed the door shut. He buried the time capsule and stuck the shovel in the ground. He started his way back home smiling. He couldn't wait to have some good ol' pasta and pizza pie with his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sweet letter from Simon was written by Soupdraws [https://twitter.com/soupdraws]
> 
> Bless you <3


End file.
